K-ON! MMO Illusia
by VinnyValient
Summary: After Ritsu begging her friends to play a new game with her, they eventually give in to her whims and join her through the RPG/MMO game called Illusia. This work is inspired by the anime 'Sword Art Online' and will eventually incorporate the anime into this story.
1. 1: Creating your avatar

/*Disclaimer

I do not own K-ON or Sword Art Online.

*/

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><p>*Author's notes (9th February 2014)

This is K-ON in an MMO. Inspired by 'Sword Art Online' (but not actually Sword Art Online but there will be similarities). Why K-ON in an MMO? I could have chosen anything- you could crossover any anime into an MMO by having the characters play the game. Well, since MMO should really be MEGA MULTIPLAYER then it should have a lot of characters. I'm used to K-ON characters and I also have some OC characters from K-ON! Continued! (my main k-on fan fic) so they are there to bulk up the character roster.

Since some readers may have not read 'K-ON! Continued!' I will try to reintroduce the characters when they appear. This fan fiction is separate from 'K-ON! Continued!' because I have started this way before I was meant to so this won't really tie in very well with that story...

Why didn't I choose SAO as the setting? I kind of have but whilst it would save me a bit of thinking, someone else has already crossover-ed the two. I also feel more comfortable creating my own MMO. In terms of story and plot line, an MMO game of my design sets no real limit on my imagination in that regard (there are limits of course but I can't be bothered stating them.)

So here is the pilot episode, the prologue chapter.

*/

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><p>"It's finished installing," replied Mio to her phone. "What do I do now?"<p>

"Boot it up," a tomboyish called back through the device. "Run the program." The tall girl moved the mouse and gave it a few clicks letting the screen in front of her dim black. "You should be able to handle the rest Mio so I'm going to hang up now."

"Wait Ritsu," she called back but the line went dead. Sighing, she put it to the side and placed her white, Sony headphones over her ears, letting the soft cushions and the active filtering cut out all the background noises. Her eyes on the screen, she waited for something to happen. Then the intro began.

Even on such a small screen, she could see the scale of the game that was being displayed in front of her, an image of the world from a satellite's view zooming in onto The Tower at the centre of the huge island. The music being played was dramatic, but beautiful. Her headphones let the pristine quality of the sounds into her mind as the camera swooped towards the ground.

Villages, towns, cities and castles, all filled with bustling people while shopkeepers and merchants hollered and displayed their wares. The community was buzzing with conversation and homeliness. Outside, past the gates, meadows of grass and fields of flowers swayed gently in the wind. The quality of the laptop let down the cleanness of what could be seen but the evening sunset in the distance seemed so real. The intro took a turn giving her a splendid view of the mountains. Snow topped with skiers. Awesome…

In this fantasy world that Mio was being drawn into, could she feel alive here?

The only thing that was missing was the smells. The smells of fresh bread from the bakery she had just passed, the smell of wet dew from recent rain. There was nothing she could do about that though as she sighed.

And then came the battle scenes. Amongst all this beauty, it showed a player fighting a Slime with a simple, wooden sword. The scene changed and he was clad in armour, his blade made thicker and sturdier of steel as he faced a tougher foe, a kobold dressed in black. In this scene, he used a special, coating his blade in fire and shouting a heroic scream. Another flash, he was older. In front was a greater monster, big fat and red with a monstrous sword. Back to the player, behind him were comrades. In unison drew their weapons. Some had swords and shields; others had bows whilst some had staves. Together, they charged.

In one last flash of white, the screen faded and was replaced with the title of the game

Welcome to Illusia.

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><p>"Welcome to Illusia," said a welcoming voice. "Would you like a live tutorial or the in game tutorial?"<p>

Two options appeared before Mio and it took her a while to respond, snapping out of the trance the intro left her in. She clicked the first option without thinking.

"Now calling the centre, please wait a few moments." Mio panicked, realising she was going to have to speak to some stranger. The mouse reached for the cancel button but there was a pop noise and a face appeared on the screen.

"Hello, my name is Miss Helper." Even though it was an awkward name, her welcoming smile helped Mio to relax.

"You can turn on your camera, use the microphone and or type back in reply." She motioned her hand to a corner of the screen displaying the said options. Mio didn't want to be rude so she opened up all three.

"U-um hello…" she stuttered.

"I'm here to help you set up your first character. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Is that alright?"

Undecidedly, Mio nodded.

"Then let's begin." The window containing Miss Helper's face moved off to the side and an avatar appeared in the centre of the screen. "First thing is to create an avatar for the game. You can't change this once you begin the game so make sure you're happy before you select okay.

"Would you like your avatar to be male or female?" Mio seemed quite taken aback by that question. She didn't think she looked like a boy and she pulled out a hand mirror to check just in case. "Some people enjoy choosing their avatar to be a different gender to themselves," Miss Helper explained, noticing Mio's amusing reaction.

"Okay… I'll be female then." Whilst she was once Romeo, she didn't particularly want to relive that moment.

"We're going to choose how your avatar will look now. You can click on these arrows to change various aspects of your avatar. If you want something in particular, ask and I can try and find it for you if I can. You can also ask for me to generate an avatar that looks similar to your appearance which you can then alter. I can also generate a random avatar." It looked simple enough as Mio went through her options. She didn't want Miss Helper to wait on her too long though.

"Miss Helper-san? Can you make one that looks like me please?"

With a nod and tapping of keys, she generated a 3D image of Mio on the screen between them. Mio gasped in surprise, seeing the likeness of herself on her computer. "That's amazing!"

"You may have to change your height as the camera can't see all of you and also your main hand that you use."

With a few clicks, Mio was satisfied (happy she could be a left handed person in the game) and nodded at her helper.

"Now we have to choose your online name. It isn't recommended to use your real name on the Internet for security purposes."

Mio paused and looked around the room for inspiration. A photograph of her best friend almost made her reply 'Ritsu' but that wasn't much better than using her real name. In the end, she settled for the name of her bass.

"Elizabeth." Satisfied with that name, she typed it in and clicked on the okay button.

"Thank you." As her avatar moved to a different corner of the screen, a list appeared before her. "In this game, there are six different factions.

Love/Hate

Hope/Fear

Pride/Shame

Joy/Grief

Gratitude/Anger

Desire/Disgust

"Please choose one which you are comfortable with. Your choice has little effect on the RPG gameplay but will represent which faction you belong to online."

Interesting list, thought Mio, scanning through. She began to wonder which one Ritsu chose but the thought of calling her to ask was washed away as she looked at Miss Helper. It would be rude to call someone in the midst of the help she was being offered.

"Which one should I choose?" Mio asked, wondering what the answer would be.

"It's entirely your choice. Some people choose randomly whilst others have reasons." She stopped there. Mio was still undecided and she didn't want random chance to dictate the fate of her character online.

"Which one would you choose?" It was a personal question and Miss Helper had no obligation to answer. However, the innocent girl's eyes soothed the helper.

"I would choose Gratitude/Anger." She thought for a moment, choosing her words carefully. "Because of the job I do, I receive a lot of gratitude for the help I provide. On the other hand, I get angry when people abuse this service." There wasn't much tone in her voice but it was like she was venting something out. In the following silence, Mio took her words seriously. She related her choice to her job. From Mio's angle, why was she playing his game? Initially, it was Ritsu's idea to play the game together, though she was just getting lonely playing on her own. However, even though it was for a lame reason, Mio still decided to join in, as did everyone else. Was it fear of being left out? What did she hope to gain out of this?

"This choice usually brings out the philosophical side of us, doesn't it?" asked Miss Helper, pausing Mio's trail of thought. "I guess it's because each of us have all of these emotions yet having to make a choice is difficult, even though this choice barely means anything." Mio nodded in agreement. Her trail of thought was lost though as she tried to pick it back up again. 'Why' was the question? Maybe she desired to play this game secretly. Nonsense, she had no feelings for the game itself since it would get in the way of their studies. That thought would also scrap gratitude for the game. In terms of pride or shame, she hadn't been challenged to the game so there was no pride to protect in that regard. It was Ritsu's constant begging to the group that got her involved in this. Then what about love/hate? She had no real opinion of the game, she would have to play the game to get a real idea of whether she enjoyed it or not. Unless she joined in the game out of 'love' for Ritsu? Platonic love, she corrected in her head afterwards without much thought. On the other hand, there was no hate.

"Hope/Fear," she decided before she lost her head. There were bound to be many scary things in this game of fighting monsters and the like. However, she hoped she'd be able to overcome these fears. Wow, this question really does bring out a philosophical side or at least a lot of thinking.

"Are you sure?" Mio nodded and clicked the okay button. A display of 'Beginner', 'Intermediate', and 'Expert' appeared.

"Are you a beginner to MMOs?" Again, she nodded, clicking beginner.

"Now comes the complicated part. What style of play do you want to play as?" There were a list of 'Archetypes' that appeared before her.

Fighter

Guard

Archer

Gunner

Thief

Mage

Cleric

Merchant

There was a lot of choice.

"These are the starting classes. There are more classes within these classes, each and all of them with their unique skills and abilities. As you level up in game, you can level up in more than one class. This allows for a huge range of possibilities." Mio tried to get her head round it. "Would you like me to explain each class? It may take a long time."

Hesitantly, Mio nodded.

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><p>*Author's notes

I'm about to go through each class for the 'noobie' Mio. I've separated the entire explanation if you want to skip it.

PS there are no level caps or limits on items, including equipment. All classes can use any piece of equipment but some are better than others due to the way stat points are allocated for each class and skills in each class tree.

*/

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><p>*Class explanations*/

Fighter:

"The fighter is a close range damage dealer that can wield all weapons. They are very versatile characters and mix well with many other classes but generally take the front line in a fight. With that, levelling up in this class will make you stronger and take more hits. Most specialise in a certain weapon in this class, usually the sword."

Guard:

"The guard is a defensive version of the fighter class. Their skills depend more on their shield and armour so they usually wield a one handed weapon to keep a shield. You can use two shields but dealing damage becomes tricky. As the most defensive class, they usually form the role of a tank or a wall and draw away monsters from weaker allies. On their own they can't deal very much damage unless combined with other classes or allies."

Archer:

"An archer wields a bow for long range damage and has always been compared to the gunner. The archer can shoot over walls and are much easier to imbue magic elements into their arrows. A lot of people switch between long range and short range, depending on the distance between them and the enemy but it isn't necessary to be a high-ranking archer to be good with a bow. In the archer's case, they keep to long range and have skills to keep the distance. Leveling in this class grants a nice speed bonus to your character. A nice class that comes from the archer class is the ranger class that allows you to summon or call for animals to aid you in battle."

Gunner:

"The gunner is much easier to use than bows and arrows as they fire in a straight line. They can also be more powerful but because they are guns, their damage is set and does not scale with the users level so they can be expensive to maintain a good gun at all times. There is a large range of guns from snipers to rocket launchers. Ammo costs money too though. Some guns do have magic but they're very rare. You can create ammo from sub skills (like blacksmithing.)"

Thief:

"This is the most agile class and has many skill to do with speed. It's hard to use since you need to move around a lot to avoid attacks but not getting hit can be the best way for survival. They also get a bonus to money received and have a high affinity for items. However, initially they aren't a very strong class and require a lot of skill to use properly because of their high speeds."

Mage:

"The main offensive magic user of all the starting classes and has access to all the elements. They rely very heavily on their mana pool and defensively are very weak. They can become the heaviest damage dealers though with their elements but they can also become Summoners. Summoners require levels in other classes though to summon certain beings and a lot of mana and becoming a Summoner requires a lot of levels."

Cleric:

"They are the best direct and indirect healers and are essential for any party. However, tend to need taking care of since they don't have much defence. Interestingly, they do get some sort of offence in the Holy class they unlock. Further more, they are also a prerequisite for the angel class. However, that class is very difficult to get and it's debateable whether it's worth getting the angel class. Being able to heal is always a nice thing to be able to do though and is always useful."

Merchant:

"They're slightly weaker than a fighter and guard averaged together but they make up for that by having a money bonus larger than a thief's and the ability to create items wherever. Whilst it isn't always useful, they can gain access to more powerful classes that can create unique items that are exclusive to the class. Whilst making these things can be expensive, they can make a lot of money."

*/

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><p>It was a lot to take in. Almost too much for Mio and there was a very long and awkward pause.<p>

"Thank you but… Um, sorry… I don't know…"

Miss Helper let herself smile. "Okay then, think of it this way. Do you want to be close range, or long range?"

"Long range." Mio's reaction was immediate.

"That leaves you with the archer, gunner, mage and the cleric. Do you want to be magical or not magical?"

Mio toyed with the idea of raising fire and zapping lightning bolts. However, she tried to be a little realistic, even though it was a game. "Not magical please."

"Then do you want to be an archer or a gunner?"

It was a tricky question and she tried to weigh up the differences. She didn't like guns. The only times she had seen guns were on the news and generally involved pain for a lot of people. However, realistically thinking again, she wouldn't be able to use a bow. The thought of pulling the string back with an arrow pointing at its mark waiting to kill made her feel queasy. Maybe she wasn't cut out for this game. Why that thought had suddenly occurred to her she didn't know but she realised that she couldn't give up all the hard work Miss Helper had done for her.

The archer, if levelled up enough, could become a ranger and summon creatures. She imagined twirling around and singing like in Snow White, calling all the beautiful woodland creatures to her.

"I'd like to be an archer…"

"Are you sure?" The mouse moved and clicked okay.

"Lastly, we need to distribute your skill points. One has been put into the archer class for you." A circular grid appeared in front of her filled with tiles. Most of the board was blanked out. "The highlighted tiles are recommended for an archer class." As Mio moved her mouse hovered over the glowing tiles, a text box appeared, describing the ability or class. It seemed she could begin levelling up in different classes already. However, they weren't highlighted so she settled with the recommended tiles. Burst, aim, and sprint.

"Now, is there anything you may want to change?" All of her choices were displayed out in front of her. The avatar, Elizabeth, gave her a reassuring smile and was sampling the new bow she had just received. Hope and fear were the words that stuck out at her though as she pondered on whether to change it.

"I'm fine thanks." She clicked the final okay button.

"Now generating your character…" The screen changed to show the avatar moving around in a field of grass.

"Congratulations, you have successfully created your first character!" Mio smiled. It was time to get started soon.

"Thank you for using the online help system."

"No, thank you," cut in Mio, surprising Miss Helper. "I don't think I could have done this without you." The lady blushed and smiled, grateful for her honesty.

"If there's anything you need help with, don't be afraid to ask. Are there any other people that will be playing with you at this time?"

Mio nodded, suddenly remembering her friends were also starting the game together. "Yes, how do I connect to them?"

After some directions, clicking on the settings button, Mio found she was the second to finish creating her character. Yui, Mugi and Azusa were still behind.

"Yo, what took you so long?" said a message, popping up in the side bar.

"Thank you again Miss Helper," said Mio again.

"You're welcome. I guess I'll be going now. I hope you have a wonderful time playing Illusia." She waved goodbye and her window disappeared.

Just as the pop sound indicated the broken connection, a bringing called Mio and she answered the call through her computer.

"Hey Ritsu."

"I see you chose an archer. Smart move, scaredy cat."

"I-I'm not a 'fraidy cat," snapped back Mio.

"Out here in this world there are monsters." Mio involuntarily shivered as Ritsu began to describe some of the beasts and creatures they were going to face.

"Baka," and she hung up.

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><p>*Author's notes

Well that was a massive intro. It is an MMO that I would make though so I've put a lot of effort into it to. I'll save the details for later. I have all the classes set (forty two different classes… wow), and the general idea of the story and the environment (similar to SAO and ALfeim online). If I were to make an MMO or an RPG, I'd make it so you can be anything like a mage combined with a fighter or combining the speed of a thief with a guard, taking hits and dodging them with ease. Basically, lots of options, experimenting and combinations are possible.

Right now, there is no virtual reality device but one will be introduced at a later point (much later when they can afford one each or go to some game centre or something.)

Ritsu has made a second character by the way, the second character being the one that was just seen (by Mio) so she could play with her friends from the same level (1), as the first is already levelled.

I wonder what character classes everyone is going to pick? What are your opinions on Mio being an Archer? At first I thought she would choose a magical style (she was never going to be on the front lines really) but as you can see that didn't happen. Unless I receive enough spam to change my mind…

Please review! Even though this is only an intro, a massive one at that, I'd love to hear your ideas. I haven't thought of anyone else's classes yet so I can easily be swayed right now. I guess I should stop ranting now and go to sleep… Good night.

I lied, I didn't go to sleep. I carried on writing and now I the everyone has a their respective classes. Sorry.

*/


	2. 2: First fight

/*Author's notes (10th February 2014)

Originally, Azusa, Jun and Ui weren't going to be here. However, because I didn't want to have only four people playing, I dragged Azusa into it. Not sure how this relates to 'K-ON! Continued!' since it that were true then Ui should be there too and Yui wouldn't have her sister missing out.

*/

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><p>As soon as she hung up, Mio burst out laughing when she registered how Ritsu's avatar looked. It seemed the drummer had also chosen to create a like image of herself for her character. The two avatars on screen seemed to be talking to each other, Ritsu's face showing off her trademark grin and her yellow headband held her hair back so her face could be shown in its full glory. That tomboyish attitude and shining grin did not suit the robe she wore. The light, brown hair clashed with the dark robe that was so wrapped around her she could appear as a floating head. Unlike most mages that would wield giant staves of oak that curled around some jewel, Ritsu's avatar held a small wand that seemed like a twig picked up off the ground in the field they were in.<p>

"What's so funny!" shouted Ritsu, bursting through the door of Mio's room, causing the girl to fall out of her chair in a mixture of shock and laughter.

"It doesn't suit you at all," she managed to spurt out between her intakes of breath. "Why are you a mage? I thought you would be a knight in shining armour?" Eventually she cooled down.

"My first character was a fighter but since I'm starting a new game I may as well go for something different. And what could be more different than a fighter but a mage?" It made sense, thought Mio but the sight of the ridiculous avatar made her giggle.

"Why do you have such a small wand?" she asked, stifling her laughter.

Because I'm not a man, thought Ritsu but didn't say it out loud. "The helper person suggested it for speed since I used to be a barbarian which can be very fast. Wands are faster but not as strong as the staves."

"Oh, Yui's finished." A like image of Yui appeared on the screen shrouded in a cloak. Somehow, the game had captured her personality as her avatar bobbed up and down with glee and suddenly pounced on the other two avatars in a big, group hug, almost pulling them to the grass.

Suddenly, there was a huge burst of laughter from Yui's room. "She's three doors down and we can still hear her!" shouted Ritsu down the corridor, aiming it a the small girl.

"It's your fault for looking so ridiculous," responded Mio. "Oh, hi Yui." The young girl's face appeared on the screen via video call. "Yeah, I see you too." Ritsu leaned in but regretted it as the two girls burst out laughing. "I know, Ritsu does look silly, doesn't she?" Ritsu pouted and turned her head away.

"I'm going to check on Mugi," and she stomped off.

"So what class are you Yui?" asked Mio, uncertain of what the cloak was hiding. It was army camouflaged and it appeared Yui could fade in and out of sight.

"I'm a thief!" She said that with too much glee to be appropriate. "Look, I can turn invisible!" So that was what she was doing, using a skill. Eventually though, Yui's avatar ended up looking very tired from the repeated action. "Woops."

"How did you use your skills?" asked Mio, curious on her own abilities. As Yui began to explain, Mio began to get a little excited. After setting up her three abilities into the hotkeys, one, two and three, she clicked on one of them.

"Burst!" she shouted, unsure whether it was the avatar or the person. Elizabeth raised the bow in her right hand and simultaneously drew an arrow from the quiver on her back. In a second, the arrow was flying through the air coated in a brilliant blue aura. It was calming to see the shot fly over the plain and fizzle out of sight.

"Wow!" shouted Yui, having seen the ability as well. In the top corner, Mio noticed some of her mana drop and a small status effect appeared by her health bar.

"It takes up five per cent of my mana." Hovering the mouse over the skill, she began reading it. "Fires a shot infused with mana for more power and grants the burst buff for ten seconds (+skill level). Burst buff strengthens the next shots whilst expending mana in the given time frame. Extra effects can be added." Mio searched through the other skills, finding some elemental and status effects, homing shots, multi shots, splitting, explosions, and the like. There were so many skills. It also seemed you could have more than one effect in the burst skill and she toyed with the idea of having all the skills in the burst shot. 'Fireworks' was another skill that caught her eye.

"Hey guys, I'm back." Ritsu's avatar began testing out some abilities too. "Fire!" And then there was fire. Somehow, the avatars knew which way to aim their skills as they didn't hit each other. "Mugi is still taking her time but Azusa is almost ready." Just then, the tiny Azusa appeared in some light armour. Another like-image of the real person.

"Azu-nyan is a fighter!"

"Yui-sempai, get off me!" Yui's avatar was hugging Azu-nyan.

"She even has cat ears!" It was true. Just in front of her two long ponytails were cat ears.

"Hey Azu-nyan, say nyan!"

"Nyan!" The avatar did the nyan motion.

"What is going on?" thought Mio as Yui played with their little kohai. "Why do you have cat ears?"

"Oh… I couldn't think of a username so I chose Azu-nyan…" The little girl knew she was going to regret the decision but she didn't realise how soon.

"Ha, ha," Ritsu laughed; glad they were picking on someone other than her. It was short lived.

Azusa, "Why does Ritsu-sempai look so weird?"

Ritsu, "Sh-shut up!"

Azusa decided to try out some skills with the others. Mio found that aim was simply first person shooting that fired a homing arrow. As she was trying out sprinting, Ritsu's laughter distracted her.

"That looks just as ridiculous." Azusa was wielding a two handed sword. Being so small, the sword reached her shoulder height.

"Could be worse," replied Mio at her friend. "Floating head."

"Aren't you afraid Mio?" Ritsu's avatar drew closer to Elizabeth and made some spooky noises. Elizabeth backed away and jumped when Yui's invisible character pounced onto the taller girl from behind.

"No, I'm not." She paused for a moment. "Hey, what are your character names anyway? Mine's Elizabeth."

"Eh!" shouted Yui, forcing Mio to turn down the volume. "You name yours after you instrument. I did that too!"

"So Giita and Elizabeth," said Ritsu. "Azu-nyan too."

"What about you Ritsu?"

She paused, for dramatic effect.

"Me? I. Am. Spartan!"

Mio was ready for the screaming and already had the volume all the way down. "Really?"

"No, I'm actually Tainaka."

"But that's your name."

"Ah, but they won't suspect it's me if I'm using my own name."

Mio face palmed.

"Why is Mugi taking so long?" asked Yui, left out. "I'm going to go see her!" In the distance, Mio could hear a door open and footsteps towards her friend's room. Not wanting to be left out, Mio followed suit.

"Sorry, I'll be done soon," came a voice through the door, obviously having heard the entire ruckus.

"I can't wait, we're coming in!" shouted Yui. They could hear Mugi's protests to entering her room but it was too late, Yui was in. Ritsu and Azusa were peeping in too.

"Wow!"

"I'm sorry!" shouted Mugi. There was nothing wrong with her room. In fact, it was perfectly ordinary, which would have displeased Yui if she wasn't looking at Mugi's screen.

"Mugi?"

"I'm sorry!" Apologising again, she ducked her head.

"Did you make three characters?" The first character was a very tall, slim and busty elf like mage. The second was male, to everyone's surprise, and had a very masculine outlook with his great two hander sword on his shoulders. The last was plainly Mugi's cute face squashed inside a helmet; the guard class no less.

"I was having fun so I kept making characters but in the end I didn't know which one to choose."

"Hey Azu-nyan, that's how a real two handed swordsman is supposed to look." Azusa puffed up her cheeks.

"I'll prove you wrong and show you how awesome little people can be, sempai."

Whilst the two argued, Mio tried to help Mugi decide, explaining everyone else's characters.

"Okay then," Mugi replied with a smile. After a few clicks, she was brought to the field where all the avatars were. They were all sleeping having been left alone for a while. Mugi clicked on Mio's avatar, bringing up an information panel. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Elizabeth. My name is Prince Triton." (Taken from the type of keyboard she has- source- k-on wiki)

* * *

><p>Mio placed the headphones over her head again, setting up a party for everyone. She sighed.<p>

Mio, "Why am I the leader? Ritsu should be the leader…"

Ritsu, "Well, I don't want to be the leader."

Mio, "You have the most experience playing this game."

Ritsu, "I don't want to spoil it for you."

Mio, "Then why not Azusa?"

Azusa, "You will always be my sempai, never the other way round."

Mio, "Mugi would make a great leader."

Mugi, "I don't know the first thing about games."

Mio, "Neither do I!"

Yui, "Why not me?"

Ritsu, "You chose a thief to make lots of money for cake, even though you can't eat the cake."

Yui, "But Giitar can. He's never had Mugi's cake before."

Mio, "Wait, but he has had cake before?"

Ritsu, "We're getting off topic. Mio, have you made the party yet?"

After some clicking on Mio's side, the other four screens got a message. "Would you like to accept Elizabeth's party invitation?"

"Yes!"

Mio sighed, wondering about how the whole thing is going to be like. At the top left, below her own status bar, four others appeared representing her party. "Are you ready?" said a message.

"Yes," replied Mio.

* * *

><p>Elizabeth looked up at the sky, awaiting orders. Her party was in a field under the blue sky above. There was little wind, perfect for archers and gunners alike. She patiently waited, hoping for a competent user.<p>

"Ritsu," shouted Mio, "Where do we go?" Elizabeth sighed. Subtly, she idly walked towards the nearest town.

Ritsu, "There's a town south of here which is a good start. We should go there." As Mio was getting to grips with the camera and the movement system, Tainaka seemed very amused watching Elizabeth being sent round in circles.

"Noob," she said. Mio's avatar looked annoyed but soon she was walking straight.

"Ah, I think I've got it!"

"Look, look at the sky!" shouted Yui and her character pointed up like a child seeing a bird for the first time. Each player tilted their camera upwards to see a flock of them passing by.

Azusa's avatar didn't look up though, instead tapping her sword on the ground. "I'm so bored…"

"Hey Mio, can you shoot one of those birds?" called out Ritsu. "Just click on a bird and try attacking it."

"Um… Which one?" asked Mio, causing her avatar to face palm, as it didn't matter. She drew an arrow and bow anyway and awaited the command. "Burst shot? Really?" she thought out loud as Mio pressed the respective keys. "Doesn't matter, that mana will heal back." Suddenly, she felt her aim get pulled upwards, even though she had set it on target herself. "Oh great, she's aiming."

Tainaka was laughing. "If you miss, you're treating us tonight."

"If I hit, I'll end up treating anyway since that'll be my bird." Mio fired, the burst arrow flying too high and the homing trigger didn't even activate.

"Oh, I missed…" said Mio with a hint of sadness.

"Never mind, there's always next time."

"Please don't waste my arrows," thought Elizabeth.

"I'm so bored…" Azu-nyan said again. She had found stump and sat on it. The real Azusa didn't know how that happened.

"Um, should we head to the town now?"

"Race you!" shouted Yui and Giitar simultaneously and sprinted off.

"Hey, wait up Yui!" Mio called after her, even though they had headphones. She clicked her sprint ability and chased afterwards. They were finally moving onwards.

* * *

><p>"I wish we never came here…" said Azu-nyan the avatar. "Why the hell are we shopping?"<p>

"Look! I got cake!"

"Yui-sempai!" shouted Azusa. "Don't waste your money like that."

"But Giitar looked so hungry…" How or why she thought that, no one bothered asking. Mio decided to stock up on some arrows, something Elizabeth was grateful for and soon they were hunting for quests.

"How about this one?" shouted Yui, running to each quest she could find. All that running was probably what caused the hunger in the first place. There wasn't enough time to answer as the girl accepted the quest anyway and hurried on. It turned out that they could accept multiple quests at once and deal with them in their own time and before long Yui had collected all the quests for them. Afterwards, they grouped together and looked towards their leader to choose their first quest.

"How long does it take to go and kill something?"

"Azu-nyan is agitated," responded Giitar happily with another cake. "This will cheer you up!" Before she could pass the cake along, they were heading off back to the fields.

"Finally…" said Azu-nyan, hiding her disappointment for not receiving cake.

* * *

><p>"Noobs," said Tainaka, scorching a few level one slimes in the vicinity. Ritsu was rather enjoying being a mage but she took care to aim away from her teammates.<p>

"Sorry!" shouted Mio as she accidentally shot Azusa with her aim skill. Friendly fire was permanently on and soon the kohai had to retreat.

"Can anyone heal?" asked Azusa, watching her character's two per cent health turn to three. "That was a really close call." The slimes moved after her but Yui's swift attacks distracted them from her party member.

"That aim ability should really not be used by a beginner," commented Elizabeth. "Who thought it was a good idea to recommend it?" Soon, Mio was running her character away from the approaching slimes after Yui had taken cover behind her.

"Sorry," said Mugi, charging in to distract them from attacking the archer. "Bash!" she called, striking one of them with her shield and stunning it. Now, all the slimes were onto her and even through her thick armour, she was taking lots of damage, fifty per cent and dropping. Yui was back helping, striking swiftly from behind then running out of harms way. However, her infrequent attacks were due to the intense running Giitar was being put through and soon she was out of mana, reducing her character to a sluggish crawl.

"I'm out of cake!"

"Mugi, get out of there," shouted Ritsu; letting Tainaka to draw away some of the slimes with fire.

"This is your fault Tainaka," said Azu-nyan, wiping sweat off her brow.

"I don't see you doing anything," she retorted, circling round and avoided getting surrounded.

"You drew all those slimes to the five of us. Whenever we were taking care of two slimes together, you would find and hit three more together.

"Now there are thirteen of them." Thirteen damaged slimes chased after their party.

Mio panicked, fearing being taken over by slimes. "Burst!" she shouted and turned off the aim skill. Elizabeth turned around to face the slimes and smiled. Now she could face them on her own. As Mio let her avatar do her job, she tried to grasp the situation they were in, pivoting the camera angle to view the field. It looked like they had drawn every slime in the field together and sent them marching after Tainaka and Prince Triton. Suddenly, three slimes disappeared as Elizabeth's burst shot pierced them.

"Guys, we're nearly there," shouted Mio, her words of encouragement reaching everyone. "All the slimes are really low on health so we can do this. Mugi, Ritsu, try and get the slimes together."

Ritsu smiled inwardly when she heard Mio taking lead, moving her mouse to move her character towards Mugi and Mugi likewise. Together, they ran as the slimes lined up neatly behind them.

"Yui, strike the ones after Ritsu and then follow Mugi. Azusa, follow Yui's lead and do the same. Ritsu, when you're safe, move off to the side." Yui saluted, chasing after the slimes and struck them, turning the slimes away from Ritsu and towards Yui. Azusa tried the same, almost getting knocked out in the process but managed to get to the same speed as Mugi whilst avoiding death.

"Now Ritsu," and she turned off. Two slimes followed her but Elizabeth picked them off easily.

"Now that they're all together, Ritsu, hit them with all you've got!"

"Got it!" Tainaka cried, summoning the mana within her into her wand. With one last spell, she cast a fireball into the horde of slimes, silencing them all.

"We did it!" they all shouted. If they were next to each other, they would have made a group hug. Instead, Yui's character was jumping in joy as the rest lay on the grass to rest.

"That was crap," shouted Azu-nyan, her ears twitching in annoyance. "Almost killed by slimes, I'll never live this down…"

"But," cut in Elizabeth. "Thanks to my master's leadership, we managed it."

"Noobs," said Tainaka, "If I had my way then there would have been no problem."

Elizabeth sighed. "And you would have fried your team mates."

"Prince Tritan?" called Giitar, waling towards the blonde. "How are you feeling?" The prince said nothing, waiting for her health to recover back to full.

"That was really fun," said Yui, appearing in Mio's room and surprised her with a sudden hug. "You were great Mio!" The girl blushed a deep red; thankful she was facing the screen rather than Yui. However, with the webcam on, Ritsu burst out laughing.

"Aw, is our Mio getting embarrassed?" she cooed. "That was some quick thinking, leader."

"Awesome Mio," said Mugi down the microphone. "I can't wait for next time!"

"Mio-sempai, thank you for not letting me die!"

Mio said something inaudible sounded something like 'thank you.' She looked at the screen, the avatars staring back up at her with a smile that surprised her. She smiled back but almost gasped when she though Elizabeth gave her a wink and mouthed something. "Good job."

"Mio, what is it?" asked Yui.

"Um…" she paused. Maybe she was going crazy. "You can get off me now…"

* * *

><p>*Author's notes

The avatars' having their own characters was completely by accident. Seriously, I was typing away and then they started talking- true story.

I think I need to define their characters better since that was all just suddenly on the fly. They just seem to be pissed off for having noobs as their players. I'm enjoying this though but I feel that the fight scenes have too many characters for me to handle at once. I can't wait to develop these characters. Oh the irony when I said I needed more players…

I'm also very sorry about the bad names I have given them. In particular Prince Triton who looks like Mugi in heavy armour. I keep trying to call her 'he.'

Also note I haven't given you which 'emotion' each person has chosen. I have decided who chose what though.

Something that you may be wondering is why I called this an MMO when it clearly isn't an MMO. Here's a clue- can't wait for level ten.

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

*/

* * *

><p>"Give me another one!" shouted Tainaka, and a beer was placed in front of her and she was downing it before the waiter had even left. "The bar is definitely the best place to be," she said to no one. Azu-nyan sipped on her cocktail, a simple martini, rolling the taste around her mouth before swallowing.<p>

"Let's drink away our sorrows after what happened today," she replied, the slime attacks still fresh in her memory. "I am shamed."

"Don't worry about it," shouted Yui, her loud voice in the empty bar echoed. "It happens to all of us!"

"Only to noobs," cut in Tainaka as she grabbed another drink. "But I guess we owe it to Mio for getting us out of that one." She threw a pint to Elizabeth who caught it without spilling a drop. "And also for having a nice bar on her computer."

Laughing, Elizabeth raised the pint into the air. "For Mio and her bar then," she called out. Each in turn, they raised their drinks and called Mio's name as though they had been comrades for a very long time.

"For Mio."


	3. 3: Territories

/*Author's noted (10th February 2014)

This is great fun! I used to write a lot of fight scenes and the like so this changing back to this style feels liberating. The avatars were just chilling with each other at Mio's bar. I wish I could have gone into more detail about the bar itself but I didn't want to drone on in an after chapter scene. Not sure why Mio would have a bar in her computer since I can't imagine Mio being an alcoholic. That would be interesting though… Hm…

I wonder what goes on in other people's computers?

I forgot to mention that the whole party grew up two levels from all those slimes but it's a bit late now :P

Oh, I know that Prince Triton doesn't speak very much. Just assume he's there and has some awesome internal monologue so epic it could write a book three times greater than this one… Or something like that…

I realised why I'm finding it difficult the ship characters together (Mio and Ritsu in particular- that's just standard). It's because the people themselves are in different rooms and playing rather than in the same room. Note: the avatars are very different from who they look like respectively- except Giitar…

*/

* * *

><p>Mio sat down, her hands automatically booting up the game and setting up the party. The instant everyone was online, they were being transported to the world of Illusia.<p>

"Hey guys," shouted Giitar, gathering everyone into a group hug. "Long time no see!" They grumbled something in reply, their moods unimproved since the last time they met. After the slime incident, things did pick up until they decided to fight something that wasn't slime like. The players were still noobs, charging into the enemy, drawing them all together and accidentally getting swarmed. Mio's trick wasn't working anymore, as Azu-nyan and Prince Tritan were too slow compared to the boars they tried to hunt which ended up in their deaths. During Mio's shock, Elizabeth was killed due to her inaction whilst Yui and Ritsu managed to get away safely.

"I think we need a change of plan," cried out Mio as they ran away from pigs for the third time that day. "Why do we keep drawing in so many monsters?" Having heard that, all the avatars turned towards Tainaka (who turned around), something even Yui couldn't miss.

"That was weird," commented Azusa but that wasn't the issue at the moment.

Mio, "Ritsu, what are you doing?" It was amazing they hadn't figured it out earlier, triggering Elizabeth to sigh. A few days ago, they were cheering her master's name yet she failed to notice her best friend wander off to try and smite some lonely pigs.

Ritsu, "Um… I just don't want to hit you guys, that's all."

Mio, "So instead you get an army of swine's to do the job for you?" Yui and Giitar laughed at the image of their mage riding a boar in their heads. "We need to get supplies again," she said, causing Azu-nyan to sigh. The avatar barely used potions because she was fairly slow and every moment spent shopping was a moment lost killing.

* * *

><p>After conversing with the quest giver, the one that was asking for boar meat, the NPC sighed and shooed them away. It took a while to get back to hunting and when they did get back, they struggled to fight them off. Tainaka tried, she really did. However, due to the way Ritsu had allocated her skills, her wide range fire skills raised the ground and their Prince.<p>

"Ritsu!" cried Mugi as she ordered the Prince to retreat. Mio applied potions to save time as Azu-nyan and Giitar took the brunt of the attack.

"Sorry!" shouted Ritsu, disheartened. Tainaka looked up at the sky towards her controller and sighed, feeling for her. It wasn't a surprise that Ritsu wasn't going to attack anything for a while.

* * *

><p>"Tainaka, I'm sorry," comforted Giitar.<p>

"Get off me," she replied. "Noob…"

"We have enough boar meat now," said Mio. "Let's go turn in the quest." Elizabeth headed towards the town and Giitar was ordered to run off. Tainaka stayed where she was.

"Hey, we don't all need to go to town," said Ritsu, coming up with an excuse. "I'll stay here and train a bit, okay?"

"But it's dangerous alone," replied Mio. "And you'll miss out on the quest dialogue."

"I don't mind. I've read it before anyway."

After a pause, the tall girl nodded, appreciating her friend wanted some space. "Oh, okay."

"It's your own fault," shouted Elizabeth as she walked off to town so Tainaka could hear clearly. "Get some better aim." Giitar heard that.

"Elizabeth, that was mean!" she shouted back and watched the lack of reaction. Azu-nyan marched towards town as well. Prince Triton stayed behind however.

"Um, I'm going to keep Ritsu company," Mugi said. "You can tell me about the quest later."

Mio, "Sure Mugi. Take care you two."

There was an awkward silence as Tainaka waited for orders. She idly summoned a fireball in her hands and looked up towards Ritsu. "Yeah, I know how you feel too." She turned to the Prince that sat next to her inaudibly. "What are you going to do? Cheer me up?" Like a doll, she simply just sat there. "Are you a mute?"

Ritsu sighed after switching off her microphone. "This sucks…" A small message popped up in the corner of her screen, causing her eyes to wander off towards it.

Mugi, "How are you feeling?" it said.

Great, Mugi is concerned. It didn't surprise her but being comforted wasn't something she was used to. "Fine," she replied to the message. "Sorry for setting you on fire before."

"I don't mind." (The Prince's face said otherwise, Tainaka raising an eyebrow) "But you should be more careful."

"That's why I was shooting away from everyone before."

Mugi thought about it, trying to think of a way round the situation rather than rudely pointing out Tainaka was the cause of their deaths every single time. "Do you have any other skills?"

"No, I put it all into this fire skill. I wanted a really powerful skill but I guess I chose the wrong one for being in a party."

"What are you doing?" asked Tainaka. In front of her, Prince Triton was shifting through some menus. "Don't you ever talk?" Eventually, the Prince displayed the menu, sending it to Ritsu.

"You could invest in the homing skill," Mugi replied. "It might help with accuracy."

Ritsu looked at the skill and began reading. "Thanks Mugi but it can also home on allies. It locks onto the closest targetable object." They both began checking through the skills.

Meanwhile, The Prince found something interesting and sent it to Tainaka. "Well, she'd never be able to find this skill," the mage commented. "I guess you aren't a mute after all." The Prince looked back inquisitively, as though she, a child, had been asked an interesting question. Laughing, the mage sent the information to Ritsu who jumped back, startled at her screen suddenly changing.

"What the," she said out loud as she stared into the clerics skill tree. "Wait a second…" She began typing, sending a message to Mugi. "Look at the third branch of the cleric skill tree. Dove's Kiss."

"Oh, that's perfect!" Dove's Kiss: reduces the damage dealt to allies. When invested enough, it will heal allies instead. "How long will it take to get there?"

Ritsu counted in her head. "Two levels before I can get a point in it. It changes by twenty per cent per point which is amazing."

"We're back!" shouted Yui, Giitar pouncing onto the mage.

"Oh, hey guys," replied Ritsu. It took her a while to realise her mike was off.

"Have you solved the problem?" asked Giitar, handing Tainaka some potions that they had just bought. As she passed the Prince's share, her eye caught the highlighted skill on the menu. "Wow, that's a great skill! It sounds so lovely too."

Yui's opinion was the same as she was commenting on grabbing the skill for herself. "Why shouldn't I get the skill?" she answered Mio who doubted the idea.

"Well, it won't be very useful since you don't attack teammates."

"Oh yeah… But I might do in the future." They imagined her performing an evil laugh.

"Ritsu-sempai," called out Azusa and her character approached the mage. "Please take this." A gift item appeared in Ritsu's item menu and she double clicked on it. Inside was revealed to be a new wand.

"Heat Tree's Branch?" she asked, curiously. She read the description as the item claimed to be from a special tree with roots diving deep into the earth for precious minerals but so deep that they touch lava hence the name 'Heat Tree.'

"Twenty per cent bonus to fire damage!" Tainaka shouted, equipping the wand before Ritsu could do it for her. "Wow!"

"But won't that mean I do more damage to you guys?" Ritsu asked over her avatar's joyful outburst.

"If you keep on reading…"

Ritsu did so. "Thirty per cent less damage to allies? Amazing!" It didn't sound like much but considering the power behind her fireball attack, it would definitely be noticeable in the worse case scenario. There was also an affinity drop in regards to the water element, causing her to take more damage to that element but Ritsu ignored it, overjoyed. "Thanks guys! But why did you buy this for me? How much was it?"

Yui was told before hand not to mention how much it cost. In fact, they wouldn't have been able to buy it before turning in their last quest. However, a random person online was having a sale and they took the opportunity as soon as they saw it.

"It was so you wouldn't set us on fire so much!" shouted Elizabeth. "Seriously, it really burns."

Tainaka was going to respond how she would shoot them with arrows but that would have been a lie, it only happened because Mio was aiming. Besides, the mage was admiring the wand she had just been given. "Too bad it doesn't have a casting speed bonus like my old one." Before Elizabeth could scold her to be more grateful, the mage said something else. "Thanks guys."

Elizabeth turned her head away, blushing. "You should thank Mio. She was the one that thought up the whole thing. Besides, if you just quit on us like that and don't even do anything then we'll lose our strongest attacker." She stormed off, though the computer didn't let her move very far since Mio was currently idle.

"So what's our next quest?" asked Mugi. She began sorting through her equipment, sighing as she realised she her character still wore the beginner's equipment.

"Territory raid!" Mio claimed, confident now that her best friend would be in high spirits for this battle.

* * *

><p>The world of Illusia is a giant island with an excessively large tower at the centre. At the base of the tower is the capital city, Lota, which consists of a single territory. The island is split up into many of these territories that are under the control of a leader. The leader can be simple AI, neutral, controlled by an 'Emotion' or guild.<p>

"Hey Ritsu, what's a territory raid like?" asked Yui, inquisitively as their party headed to their destination.

"I've never been on one."

"Eh? I thought you played this game before though."

"Yeah but this quest said we should have a party of at least six people. And when I was playing, I only had one, me."

"Then it must be really hard then!" Giitar giggled in excitement, much to Elizabeth's annoyance.

"Concentrate," she snapped. "This will be our hardest battle yet and we aren't even very good."

"I'm going to enjoy this," smiled Azu-nyan, licking her lips. "Can't wait…"

"What is she so happy about?" asked Tainaka. "We only got to level six."

Elizabeth shrugged when they received no reply. "Let's just concentrate on the mission."

"Did anyone read the instruction manual?" asked Mio into the microphone. The silence on the other end told her no. With a sigh, Mio decided to explain. "A territory raid is where we try to take over an area. In our case, the quest was to clear out the town of Fishover that has been taken over by goblins." This would be their first fight against those monsters so they had no idea what to expect. "Once we begin the mission, we have an hour to go in and clear out all the monsters."

"An hour!" cried Yui. "But I'll get hungry in an hour."

Giita agreed, her belly already rumbling. "At least Yui will be able to eat something whilst she's playing."

Elizabeth, "We've just been to town and Yui treated you to cake. How can you be hungry?"

Giitar, "Yui left the pacing skill on again…"

Elizabeth nodded, as though she understood. "Wait- That skill helps reduce mana usage and we're walking. It shouldn't even be doing anything!"

Giitar, "Oh yeah." She smiled back. "I forgot."

Elizabeth, "What's wrong with this child…"

* * *

><p>They waited just outside the territory area. A slightly transparent red wall separated the zone from theirs showing that it was a hostile area inside.<p>

Mio, "Right, has everyone checked the map thoroughly?" Everyone nodded. Being in different rooms, Mio couldn't know this but she began anyway. Her avatar pressed her hand on the wall, displaying a message to Mio.

"Do you want to begin territory raid of Fishover?"

Mio clicked the okay button. "Mission start!"

They all stepped through the wall together, a timer appearing in the corner of the screen as they headed to the fishing village.

"Be on your guard," said Mio. She kept moving the camera, hoping to catch sight of the enemy in case they were suddenly attacked. Mio didn't like surprises.

It wasn't long before they reached the village and some goblin guards stood by the only path that led to inside. The group hid behind a single tree, planning their assault. If the guards bothered looking around, they'd have found a comedic group of five struggling to remain hidden.

"What's the plan Mio?" asked Yui, excited.

After a few moments of thought, Mio decided on their course of action. "Ritsu and I will attack the guards from far away whilst the rest of you move in close. Then we come in after you."

Doesn't seem that bad, thought Elizabeth. It's a bit risky to send in all the troops but it was their first territory raid so what could happen?

"Ready Tainaka?" asked Elizabeth.

She nodded back. "Ready." Simultaneously, they jumped out of hiding and began their assault.

Elizabeth, "I've got the left one, you take the right." She fired an arrow, getting a critical shot and a surprise attack. On her right, she saw a fireball arc towards the wooden gates. "Overkill." The fireball also got a critical on the right goblin but the explosion set everything in the vicinity ablaze, the left goblin and the wall.

"Don't you have any other skills Ritsu?" shouted Mio. "That was unnecessary."

"I only have one skill," replied Ritsu. "That and I can heal a little." Not bothering to reply, Mio gave the signal for the others charge.

"Bring it!" shouted Azu-nyan just behind Giitar. The prince lagged behind as the slowest of the group.

Suddenly, a volley of arrows rose from behind the walls, arcing towards the charging group.

Azu-nyan, "What the…"

Giitar turned around before Yui could react, running back towards their Prince. "Take cover!" she shouted, diving behind the armoured guard. Azu-nyan was too slow and she knew it. However, Azusa tried to move her off to the side. Thankfully, most of the shots glanced off the armour she recently bought but she still took a lot of damage.

"Sixty per cent health left." Yui's avatar ran up to her comrade at full sprint, ready to apply a healing item.

"Here comes another volley!" Mio shouted. Mugi was already on it though, raising her shield to protect the party members. Arrows were deflected harmlessly to the side.

The three marched slowly now towards the gates. The fire from the mage had long blown itself out leaving the walls black and crispy and the two guards like charcoal. "Let's go!" The three entered.

* * *

><p>"Let's go," said Mio to Ritsu. The two headed after their allies but were halted by more arrows. "How many of them are there?" She was hoping that the enemy goblins would be distracted enough by their allies so that they could make it through but apparently not.<p>

"We can make it in between the shots, can't we?" They ran in, not wanting to hold up their friends any longer. Another hail of arrows that they could not dodge.

"Arg!" screamed Elizabeth, stepping in front of Tainaka to take some of the arrows. Unlike Azu-nyan, she was barely armoured save for the beginner's leather padding over her sweatshirt. At the sight of her crippled partner, less than thirty per cent, Tainaka began casting some healing magic.

"Come on!" she shouted, quickly casting the spell before they both raced on. Mio activated the sprint ability, diving behind the doors of the gate.

"Come on Tainaka, you can make it." Three arrows hit her before she collapsed next to Elizabeth. The mage was even less armoured and her health struggled above ten per cent. As Tainaka began healing herself, her partner looked round the door. "We need to help out." She ran in, bow ready as she analysed the situation. Tainaka was crippled outside whilst she herself was only just above half health. In the cramped village, Giitar was much too low on mana and could no longer keep running. Azu-nyan had already expended her energy whilst the Prince stayed her ground, acting as a bulwark for her two comrades. Even though outnumbered, she kept them at bay by constantly pacing from side to side and taking all the blows. Her health was much too low though, flashing red indicating it was below twenty per cent.

"Burst!" shouted Mio as her character ran forwards and leapt up, drawing three arrows at the same time. She fired, down onto the opposing goblins, the arrows splitting before they hit their target. But some of the goblins were armoured, shrugging off the assault with ease.

"How is this possible?" questioned Mio as she realised how outnumbered they were. There were ten archers behind the main force of the goblins that blocked the road. Elizabeth kept firing, making the most of her Burst buff. She changed her target as she saw the enemy archers preparing their next volley.

A chief goblin screeched in an unintelligible dialect to his troops, waving his sword and ordering his minions about. With a roar, pointed its sword forwards. Ten arrows flew into the air- no thirty. They had the splitting ability too.

Suddenly, Azusa dived behind a building dragging Yui with her. Mugi still kept the enemy at bay, stopping the enemy from advancing. Mio followed suit, taking cover.

"Heal!" shouted Ritsu, finally recovered. A warm breath of fresh air revitalised the guard, bringing her back from red health.

"Thanks Ritsu," replied Mugi as she lashed out at a brave goblin. Mio fired an arrow at it, managing a hit before it slunk back.

"Come on, think of something," thought Mio to herself. She took in her surroundings. There was more than one way around a village. "Yui, Azusa, go round and attack the archers. I'll go round this way. Ritsu, keep Mugi alive." And then Mio followed the path round the building she was hiding behind. She was surprised, expecting to be suddenly ambushed but no such thing happened.

"Good thinking Mio," said Elizabeth to herself, "but you should be more careful." Mio charged her through the empty streets. As she made her way to flank the enemy, Elizabeth kept an eye on the windows, checking for anything. It was clear though and Mio halted having found the archer's were perfectly vulnerable from behind.

"Azusa, Yui, do you see them?"

"We're in position!" cried out Yui, happily as ever. "But I'm out of mana so I don't think I'll be much help."

"Mio sempai," replied Azusa, "I'm ready when you are. I just used a mana potion"

"On three. One, two,

"Three!"

"Burst!" Glowing, arrows were fired, striking the archers from behind, causing them to turn, distracted. From the other side, Azu-nyan appeared with her great, two-handed sword glowing white.

"Sunder!" she screamed with a small hop, then smashing the sword from overhead down onto the archers. The white aura exploded, causing an area attack and finished them off, leaving only the chieftain to regroup with the soldiers.

Meanwhile, Mugi retreated, giving Ritsu a clear shot at the clustered enemy. "Fire!" she called out warning her comrades. With a flick of her wand, a fireball shot out at the enemy, engulfing them all in red, hot flames. After a few moments, Mio picked off some of the final stragglers. Eventually, the chieftain was left. In a mad dash, it charged.

"Ritsu!" Mio called out. Mugi stepped in front of the mage; shield raised and blocked the attack. With her sword, she thrust upwards, killing the goblin with the headshot.

There was a brief pause before a message appeared before them. "You have liberated Fishover!"

* * *

><p>*Author's notes

Think of the territories like in the board game called 'Risk.' I was planning on having them fail that territorial capture but I failed in making them fail- probably to push the story along faster. I think with too many characters it gets difficult to follow everyone at the same time whilst keeping a fast paced battle bursting with action. What do you think of the battle scenes? Are they good? How does the pacing work in these territorial battles? Of course, like in most MMOs (though this one not yet) there will be ridiculous dungeons, raid bosses and the like teaming with player versus monsters, more than I'll be able to handle. Please review so I can write better fight scenes!

The characters probably grew up a level or two just then, making them level eight (if I can count or remember correctly) so they're nearly level ten. Which is always a level something gets unlocked.

Also, you get good stuff for liberating an area like money, cheaper items and stuff. In the RPG part of the game, you keep the area permanently unless attacked, sold, bartered etc. In the MMO, there are differing factors. I know I haven't explained the RPG and MMO elements of this game but I'll cut this section short now. I hope you enjoyed reading and please review!

*/

* * *

><p>Tainaka slammed the glass of beer on the wooden table. Her face was rosy red from the binary alcohol in her imaginary system. "I can't thank you enough guys!" she yelled at the top of her voice. "It's as if you guys love me!" In her drunken state, the rest of the group were glad she didn't bring the Heat Tree's branch with her. A drunk with a flaming, magic wand didn't seem like a good idea. The waiter placed another cocktail in front of Azu-nyan. She said something before her taste test.<p>

"What do you think of my new skill?" she asked, keeping her eye on the faces as she brought the purple liquid to her lips.

"It was earth shatteringly good," the drunken mage answered and showed off Ritsu's trademark grin, laughing at the pun she just made. The Sunder skill did split the earth.

"It is really good at hitting groups," cut in Elizabeth. "I definitely couldn't take on all of those archers on my own. We were lucky to have you and that skill."

Azu-nyan smiled at the praise she was receiving. Again, she swirled the cocktail around her mouth before swallowing. Her eyes trailed off, analysing the rest of their group. The Prince didn't react, saying not a word. Was she a mute? Giitar wasn't there with them, which was the strangest thing. A certain drunk covered up the silence left by her in her place.

"Hey, what about my amazing ability? It wiped out all of those goblins in one hit!" She neglected to mention it also used up forty per cent of her mana since her skill points were lacking in many other areas such as in classes. However, training up on the cleric side was giving her a larger mana pool so she wasn't too worried about it for the moment.

"Yes, true," replied their leader. Elizabeth called for a coke and vodka. "But it could also wipe us out. I hope your master learns how to use you properly." The drink was placed into her outstretched hand and she sipped it, mimicking Azu-nyan in her strange drinking ways. She didn't like it.

"I'm back!" shouted Giitar, bursting through the door. "I got this!" She placed a massive cake on the middle of the table. "Happy birthday!"

"Whose birthday is it?" asked Azu-nyan sarcastically.

"Mine!" she shouted.

"You were born last week."

"It's my birth week?"

"No."

"Aw…"

"We can still eat cake though," cut in Elizabeth, realsing she hadn't ever had cake before. It suddenly occurred to the others as well and they all were about to dive in when-

"Oh no!" shouted Giitar. "Yui's about to turn off her computer!" She grabbed the cake. "I'll see you guys next time, okay?" With that, she jumped out the door and was whisked away on the Internet.

"She's crazy," though Tainaka out loud, downing another beer.

"Cake…" said Elizabeth and Azu-nyan, simultaneously.


	4. 4: Capital city Lota- preparations

/*Author's notes (10th feb)

I may as well explain some more game mechanics here.

There are two parts of the game: RPG and MMO. RPG is the world of Illusia but on a private server hosted by the computer with some slight differences in game mechanics (mostly in territories and progression.) The MMO is obviously an MMO; it is similar to Sword Art Online (SAO). The highest any player can go in The Tower is the highest cleared floor- like the front line in SAO; otherwise anyone can go anywhere. Of course, you won't want to go to a place where monsters are thirty levels higher than you.

Each player starts at level one in the RPG part of the game. When they reach level ten, they can join the MMO part of the game. This is to reduce the number of 'noobs' and inexperienced players in the difficult online world of Illusia since territories become a much more important role in the game and there is a lot of PVP (player vs player). It's also so you can't begin levelling up in the MMO world then sweep through the RPG easily. Of course, this isn't a real game but maybe one day :D

Level ten day.

*/

* * *

><p>Elizabeth woke up from her bed as she realised Mio was booting up her computer. With a soft yawn, she rolled out from under her duvet and began to get dressed, strapping on some leather armour over her sweatshirt and placing a quiver onto her back. She was low on arrows it seemed; her Burst skill was getting expensive. Maybe Mio wanted an overpowered move like Ritsu wanted? Shaking her head, she splashed water onto her face from the sink in her room. She didn't bother with a shower. She was going to end up sweaty from the day ahead of her. Sighing, she exited her room and entered the bar.<p>

"Usual waiter," she ordered as she sat by the only table in the room.

"Morning Elizabeth," greeted Tainaka. The taller girl jumped back, hand on her bow. "Come on now, I'm not a virus." Laughing hard, the mage leaned back on her chair dangerously so. "So you go for the full breakfast?" The waiter placed fried eggs, bacon, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms, hash browns with a glass of milk on the side for the woman.

"It's a good thing we don't gain weight, isn't it then." She began eating, not because she needed food but for the mere idea that they could pretend to be alive. "Tastes good too. Do you want anything? Ask my waiter."

"Really? He's your waiter?" Tainaka pondered on why there was a waiter here but she pushed the thought away.

"Waiter, give me a pint." Elizabeth chocked on her food.

"Really? For breakfast?"

"It's a good thing we don't really get drunk." Grinning, she caught the glass that was thrown to her and she began chugging the golden liquid down. Her cheeks became rosy red. "That hit the spot!" She took down her headband, letting the bangs of hair cover her eyes as she wobbled on the back two legs of her chair.

"So carefree," commented Elizabeth and continued on with her food. Every now and then, she would glance upwards at the girl sitting across from her. She meant nothing of it; it was interesting to see the girl with her hair down.

"Salty dog please," said a new voice. Only Elizabeth was surprised again, even though this was her bar.

"Azu-nyan, when did you get here?"

Again with the swirling of drink in her mouth, she politely swallowed before speaking.

"You left the door open." Actually, it was Tainaka that left the door open but she was napping. The waiter moved around the bar table and placed a meal in front of the fourth person, Prince Triton. Elizabeth didn't bother asking and wondered where the last person was. She kept an eye on the door, waiting patiently.

"Boo!" from behind. The shock sent Elizabeth to the floor. "I can stealth, remember?" Grinning, Giitar looked at the others that seemed equally lifeless (Elizabeth for a different reason.) Noticing the napping Tainaka, the thief crept closer, placing her head above the brown haired girl's. Tainaka noticed, balancing her chair delicately. Giitar moved her head closer, their faces a few inches apart.

Tainaka leaned back.

Giitar leaned closer.

Tainaka leaned back.

*SLAM* and she hit the floor. Giitar looked sad as the room was filled with Tainaka's yelp in pain.

"What the hell that for?" she yelled at the smaller girl.

"Tainaka would rather kiss the floor than me," she replied with an exaggerated frown on her face. "Well, time for me to go!" She bounded out the door. "Thanks waiter for the milk!"

Elizabeth sighed and looked around to find that everyone had already left, being called by their respective computers. "What a crazy bunch of weirdo's… And I'm supposed to lead them…"

* * *

><p>"Level ten!" they cried out as they turned in their latest quest. They each received a congratulatory message and a few items. Mugi was especially glad to get rid of her beginner's armour to replace it with a full set of iron plate.<p>

"And a new shield," she called as her character showed it off, flashing the polished metal in the sun. Prince Triton swung a new blade too, an iron blade.

Azusa, "Wow, you look really good in that Mugi-sempai!" In particular, her helmet had been changed to a much more open iron helmet rather than the beginner's helmet that squashed her face together. Whilst the blonde looked adorable with her cheeks permanently puffed up in her old helmet, they could take the girl more seriously now that they could clearly see her face.

"What did you get, Azusa?" Her character held up a lance, a seven-foot spear type weapon. It had a handle that took half the length of the lance whilst the dangerous end had no edge but tapered to a single thrusting point. Sadly, it was a dull iron colour but the uniqueness of the weapon had Mugi clap her hands together. "That looks really cool!"

Tainaka laughed at the little girl. "It's like twice your size!" Despite that, however, Azu-nyan seemed determined to try wielding it. Compared the two handed sword, the long handle of the lance allowed her to spin the weapon around with ease. The cat eared girl spun in full circle, swinging the lance in a large arc and managed to control it well. There was no power lost as she tested the range with a series of short jabs and one final lunge. Then, at the click of a button, she hopped up and raised the lance high above her head. For a single second, she stayed in the air. Then, the lance slammed down into the ground, sundering the earth into two.

"I like it," said Azusa. Comparing the differences between the lance and the two hander it seemed like the two hander was more versatile in terms of skills but traded that for the lance's range. There was a Lancer class that required the Guard class as a prerequisite that the fighter didn't have. The Sunder skill was a two handed skill, so as long as Azusa kept both hands free her main skill could be used. She had also replaced her armour, neglecting her previous light armour for heavy armour that made her look almost as bulky as their guard. It came with an item that she didn't recognise.

"What does this do?" she asked, double clicking on an arm shield in her inventory. A small round piece of metal was attached to Azu-nyan's arm, acting like a very small shield. Her hands were still free though. She tested the Sunder skill again, happy that it still worked. "It looks kind of useless though."

Boringly, Mio's character barely changed. She had new equipment, sure, but the visual difference between leather armour and hard leather and from beginner's bow to wooden bow barely made a difference. However, she was given a full stock quiver. Satisfied regardless, Mio began sorting through applying skill points.

"Ha, ha!" shouted Ritsu, distracting everyone. "Watch this!" Suddenly, she cast her fireball ability on the nearest person to her, Mio.

"Ah!' screamed Mio, but instead of the usual insane damage, she was healed very slightly. "Oh… You managed to get that ability strong enough?" Ritsu showed off her trademark grin to the screen, realising afterwards no one could see her.

"Yep, Dove's Kiss!" Her wand helped with that as well, the reduced ally damage stacking with the skill. In total, she healed five per cent of the damage she would normally deal (the Dove's Kiss skill reducing in effect when it began healing teammates). Now that she couldn't harm her allies any more, she could get back to concentrating on pure damage output. Too bad there weren't any classes that required skill points in the Mage and Cleric classes directly, she might have aimed for it.

"Look at me!" shouted Yui. Each person focused on the girl. She ran forwards, jumped up and began wall running.

Ritsu, "What."

As Mio questioned the usefulness of it in her head, Ritsu questioned how she got that skill. "I'm a Ninja!" she shouted. "Nin-nin-nin-nin…"

Tainaka, "What…"

Giita jumped off the wall, landing in a pose only an overconfident super hero would make. Smiling, she pulled out two kunai, twirling them around her fingers on each hand respectively. "I can duel wield too now!" From the gift box, she had received thirty kunai that could be used like a weapon of for throwing. Tainaka laughed, pointing out how she could always duel wield since they can equip anything they want. "But Tainaka, why don't you equip heavy armour if all you do is laze around and hide at the back?"

Tainaka, "Well heavy armour spoils magic you know. I might be able to get away with some light armour but this new robe," she spun around to show her new Red Mage's Robe, "increases fire damage by a further twenty per cent!" The mage wasn't sure how she and Ritsu were going to level up from now on but she assumed either more Dove's Kiss or back to the pure power of Fire.

Mio began their next briefing. "So what can we do now that we are level ten?"

Ritsu smiled, brining up her map menu. "You see that big tower in the middle? We can go there now."

"Yay!" cried out Yui. She had longed to begin climbing The Tower ever since she set her eye on it. It was tall and majestic in the distance, visible from wherever you were.

"At the bottom is the capital city of Lota but after that is a special dungeon!" The others 'oohed' and Ritsu began explaining the dungeon. Basically, a dungeon resets if the party leaves the area, reducing progress to zero. At the end was always a boss that when defeated unlocked something and gave out a prize. In their case, they were heading to the first floor dungeon that would unlock the first floor of the tower. Smiling, Ritsu proudly announced something. "I've never beaten the boss before! Let alone reach him!" Thinking back, this was the point where Ritsu decided to gather her friends together so that they could beat the boss together. Mio questioned the girls pride in her voice.

"Hey Ritsu," asked Mio, "Does that mean you could switch back to your other character?"

Tainaka flinched and the rest of the crew looked at her. Azusa noticed the subtle looks but said nothing, interested in what Ritsu was going to say.

"Nah, the one that has been with you guys is Tainaka, the fire mage. We wouldn't have gotten this far without you guys! Besides, that Heat Tree's Branch would go to waste." Tainaka relaxed, letting out a sigh of relief, as did the rest.

"Did anyone see that?" asked Azusa, pointing at the screen.

Mio, "See what?" The characters were in their respective idle states now. Except Giitar of course, she was still wall running for fun.

"Never mind…"

* * *

><p>What Ritsu didn't mention was the long trek to the capital. It was pretty most of the way, but the sight of never ending fields and slimes soon sickened them as they slashed, hacked and burned monsters in their path. The Tower never got any bigger and they ended up growing a level.<p>

"How much further…" cried out Giita. Her pacing ability was on meaning that it should be less tiring for her. "Let's have a tea break." Elizabeth sighed. It seemed that their masters had put them on auto move so that the avatars would march to the capital whilst they gossiped away about their real lives.

"Ten more minutes," she replied. "I wish someone pointed out the stables we could have hired from." Annoyed, she fired an arrow at a stray, level one slime killing it instantly.

"I'm surprised that Azu-nyan hasn't screamed how bored she is yet," laughed Tainaka out loud and they all glanced back at the small girl in her ridiculously sized heavy armour. The shoulder plates of the armour stuck out to either side of her ponytailed head making her seem even more dwarf sized. They could see she was really out of breath; talking was probably too much for her at the moment. They laughed at her expense, watching her face go red.

"At least she has a running buddy," referring to the prince who simply stared back without a word.

* * *

><p>Mio sighed as she waited for something to happen. Since they preferred the safety of the area they started it, they were at the furthest point from their destination. Marching there would take a long time so the girls had the avatars auto pilot them to the capital. Soon, Mio was flicking through the Internet, looking up the game.<p>

"Mio?" asked Yui. She turned around and the guitarist suddenly pounced on her.

"Ah! Why are you in my room?" Yui smiled happily.

"Because I want to be with you~" She flunked herself onto the bed with her laptop. As the rest had computers that were a pain to move around, only Yui could commute between the bedrooms. "Isn't Giitar really cool?"

"What can ninja's do?" asked Mio, finding an emulator on classes.

Yui, "I don't know," innocent look on her face.

"Well they can wall run, have better stealth than thieves, can throw anything."

"Does that mean I could throw you, Mio?" She imagined playing catch with the bassist, throwing her to Ritsu who would then throw her back.

"Yes." The dark haired girl looked a little worried about the excited puppy of their group with such power. Before she got any ideas, she looked at other skills Yui could eventually do. "You can cast ninja magic."

"Wow!" The girl bounded next to Mio, resting her head on the girl's shoulder. Mio patted her on the head and scrolled through the pages.

"But they're really weak." Finding some comments, they read that, compared to the mages abilities, they were rubbish since the power difference was huge and that ninjas weren't good at magic anyway. Someone else pointed out the ninja skills required no cast time at all. Mio relayed this to Yui. She didn't understand.

"So… Should I get the abilities?"

Mio sighed. "It's your choice." Mio came up with an idea to make Yui take it more seriously. "This is your Giitar we're talking about."

Yui gasped. "That means that you have to help me! For Giitar's sake and therefore the band's sake!"

It's just a game, thought Mio. "Oh, I think we're almost there now." Yui dived back onto the bed, pulling the laptop close towards her.

"Sugoi~"

* * *

><p>The group stood there, mouths slightly agape as they stared at the capital before them. Lota was built at the top of a mountain that only the most experienced climbers could scale; a simple but magnificent marble staircase cut through the rocky edges of the mount and led to the pearl gates where two guardian statues stood, each standing as tall as the walls they were erected against. The group stood on 'the ring'; a circular hill that surrounded the capital, but it was nothing in comparison to the impenetrable fortress that loomed above them. Lota's contents were shielded from their eyes; the white, stone walls were patrolled with knights and paladins that marched to and fro at the top. The only thing they could see was The Tower and the castle. At the centre, the castle, that only a selfish princess could dream of, shone in the gentle sunlight. Its full glory was failed only by its job, to hold The Tower above it. A spiral staircase led upwards from the palace, spinning skyward into the tower above them. It was so thin in the distance it appeared like a single thread of spider web compared the majestic size of the capital and The Tower. In this impossible fantasy world, their objective hung above them, connected only by that silver strand called the 'Spiral'. All they could see was that the staircase was their only option in.<p>

"To think," said Tainaka, breaking the silence of the ridiculous task in front of them, "that we have the option to try and take over this territory." No one answered.

"We would need an army of ten thousand to storm that place," commented Elizabeth. "They say that in the MMO they give you a week."

"A week isn't enough time," replied Azu-nyan. "It looks like it would take a day to climb those stairs let alone climb it whilst under attack." Again, they all paused, taking it all in. It was surprising that the capital wasn't cast in the shadow of The Tower. The Tower was based off the giant floating castle of Aincrad from Sword Art Online, bearing one hundred floors of different landscapes and beauty, each holding a floor boss. In the distance The Tower had appeared large; now it simply blocked out the sky. The only reason why Lota wasn't cast in shadow was because the tower was so high up above it and the sun was setting, the low angle of the light cast shadows like spilled, black paint against the canvass of the island. The thought of climbing all those stairs caused Azu-nyan to shudder since she was still getting her breath back.

"So, what are we waiting for!" shouted Giitar, racing down the hill into the valley below. "Last one there has to buy me cake!" The others followed, laughing and forgetting their impossible mission to complete The Tower.

* * *

><p>They had each prepared in the capital, noticing how expensive everything was. "I could get twice as many potions as this in Fishover!" shouted Ritsu. Compared to all the other villages and towns they had explored, the capital was definitely a different experience. It was full of NPCs, bustling about with their daily lives. The market was particularly lively as they each yelled their wares claiming to be the cheapest there. Once their weapons and armour were upgraded, they started on the spiral staircase. It turned out that the staircase didn't start inside the castle, the castle not open to the public, but began by the front gates of the castle. Giitar considered using her new ninja skills to sneak in but they were ordered to climb.<p>

As they marched up the glass stairs, each were admiring the view they were given. They could see the square, the market, the inns and homes of the people. Soon, they could see over the walls that enclosed the population.

And it was beautiful.

It was like they could see the edge of the world, the sea glimmering in the distance as the sun was setting over the landscape. The villages and towns cast shadows that stretched far across the plains, fields that normally held monsters appeared so tiny that the creatures they had feared but fought looked like simple farm animals. They looked round to the other side of the island where they hadn't explored yet. It was a different environment altogether as they saw canyons and dungeons between the sparse settlements. Mountains as large as the Alps pierced the sky and the valleys in between delved deep into the ground. Another side showed deep forests and marshes that had the murkiest of colours. The largest homely area they could see was the port that was on the edge of the island they were on, the furthest point from where they stood. Discounting upwards of course.

Smiling, Giitar looked down below since they were reaching quite high up. "Why don't we just jump into the castle?" she asked, holding tightly onto the railing.

"Sure, and die whilst you're at it," replied Elizabeth. "A drop at this height will mangle your bones to dust and your flesh into a splat larger than the castle gardens."

At the back, Prince Triton almost puked and stopped looking down. No one noticed.

"Aw," replied the small girl. "If only we could fly." She ran up the stairs, impatient for the dungeon they were about to head into. "I can't wait!"

"Azu-nyan, how are you feeling?" asked Tainaka, looking back at the stubborn child. "Why don't you take off your armour?"

The girl laughed. "If only it were that easy…" She had already considered it but she decided not to act weird in front of Azusa. She had already noticed some of their antics, particularly Giitar's.

Ritsu was checking through her skills, planning on where to go next with it. "If I become a proper Fire mage, I might go into the other elements to become an elementalist," she thought out loud, hoping for someone else's opinion. "Or a non-elementalist, however that works.

Mugi heard. "If you keep up with the cleric abilities, you could go into the Holy class." As Ritsu pondered the idea, Mugi considered her plans. Right now, she had gone purely on the defensive side but regretted not being able to contribute very much to the party in terms of damage. She kept this to herself though as she had researched her role in the group before hand. Stop allies from taking damage.

"I could go into the cleric class," thought Mugi, regardless.

"How come?" asked Ritsu. "You're doing really well being a guard."

"If I do, I could become a Paladin." She read out some of the abilities it unlocked. Most of them were healing but the aura and buff abilities seemed really nice since they affected the whole party.

"Why not? I like the look of that one." She referred to the 'Shared Souls Aura'. "Though I don't want you sacrificing yourself for me." It was an aura that made the paladin take a portion of the damage others' received. "It would save you a lot of running around."

"There are so many great skills, Mugi-sempai," mentioned Azusa. "You should choose one that suits you though."

Mugi smiled at her Kohai. "Thank you Azusa, you should choose what you like as well," she replied, knowing that her kohai would blush.

"I'm going to be a great ninja!" shouted Yui, determined. "Have you seen what ninja's can do? They can throw anything they want!" She could have demonstrated throwing a potion at someone and heal them but that would have been a waste. "And I get some cool magic later on!" Comments online said the skills were best for the elements and surprise rather than the mage's potential raw power. Ritsu was a good example of power.

"My burst skill is getting quite good," Mio said. "But it's getting expensive. It takes twenty something per cent mana to activate it and every shot after that uses up mana as well." On the up side, she could shoot five arrows at once that would split into five more, each slightly homing.

The screen went dark as they entered the shadow of The Tower. Eventually, the stairs stopped at the front of the dungeon doors. Smiling, Mio tried to put in a leadership speech. With a sharp intake of breath to gather their attention, she began.

"Right, this is our first dungeon. We've been through a lot of battles together but we've made it this far together." She paused, not liking the flow of her speech. Carrying on, "Together," she bit her tongue, "this will be our next challenge. We can do this!" There was an awkward silence. Azu-nyan yawned, as did the rest of the avatars.

"She tried," commented Elizabeth. "But she failed."

"Let's have fun!" shouted Yui, not really understanding what Mio meant. "I bet there's a lot of cool stuff in there so let's go!"

Elizabeth nodded and waved her hand in front of the door, sending a message to Mio.

"Do you want to enter Floor one Dungeon?" She moved her mouse and clicked okay.

* * *

><p>*Author's Notes

Sorry for the lack of any fighting or anything exciting in particular. Next chapter will be the opposite, full of killing monsters and finishing with the floor boss. However, I hope I got across the beautiful views and places they would have seen. There will be a much better description later on that should display better emotions.

Stating 'level ten' at the start is a bit misleading since they didn't even do anything this chapter except walk around and prepare a bit. Hopefully this build up will be worth it though. I hope there is enough awesome in the next chapter to satisfy the lack of death in this chapter.

Killing and K-ON? What madness is this :P

*/

* * *

><p>The waiter sighed, lonely in the bar…<p> 


	5. 5: First Floor Dungeon

/*Author's notes

I won't waste much time here.

It's dungeon day.

*/

* * *

><p>The large, oaken doors in front of them rumbled open and they waited in anticipation, not knowing what to expect. It was dark. A tunnel was revealed to them.<p>

"Let's go," said Elizabeth, marching in with her bow ready. The others followed suit. Azu-nyan moved to the front.

"The archer shouldn't lead the way." Smiling, she walked forwards, lance first.

Silence. It was a while before anything happened but an arrow suddenly struck Azu-nyan in the arm but her armour took most of the damage. She readied her tiny arm shield, noting the small three per cent damage.

"Top left!" shouted Mio, clicking on an archer goblin that had just attacked them. A fireball was flung down the tunnel, lighting up the area to reveal a small horde of goblins, waiting in ambush. Their night eyes twinkled in the unnatural light as they realised their cover had been blown. They charged.

"Burst!" shouted Elizabeth, sending a cascade of arrows causing their front line to stumble and fall.

Prince Triton moved forwards, halting the enemies' advance. Her shield on her left stopped the goblins from flanking her whilst her sword arm kept the others from sneaking past.

"Sunder!" The Prince stepped backwards, giving her comrade space as she hit the ground, the quake completely stunning the enemy. Giitar took advantage of the slight pause the skill caused, diving into enemy fray with both her kunai in a spinning fury.

"Twister!" Like a child pretending to be a spinning top, the small girl lashed out several times and when she stopped a small wind pushed the enemy away from her. Arrows struck her though before she could retreat behind their guard.

"Mio, take the archers!" shouted Ritsu, sending in a fireball at the main goblins letting her teammates take advantage of the slight healing. Suddenly, a brave group of the monsters jumped past Mugi, making a charge at the defenceless mage.

"Roar!" screamed the guard and the piercing screech bounced off the walls of the tunnel, stunning every enemy and drawing their attention. In the distraction, Mio took out the group with a quick spread shot of her Burst ability. She then took advantage of the buff on the opposing archers.

Again, Azusa used her Sunder skill, decimating the final few goblins. A few enemy archers ran as the front line was killed, retreating into the darkness of the tunnels.

"Come back here!" shouted an enraged Azu-nyan and charged after them.

"Wait!" but the cat girl had already gone. Giitar chased after her. "Come back Azu-nyan!"

Elizabeth sighed. "Let's go!"

* * *

><p>The path split up. "Left, right or forwards?" asked Mio. "Which way did you go, Azusa?"<p>

"Don't go forwards," she replied. "It's a trap." There was a steep slope that Azu-nyan slipped on in the darkness. Yui had followed of course, not wanting to leave her Kohai alone. However, it appeared they were stuck at the bottom. "Do you have a rope?" They didn't and Azusa sighed. "There's a door here but it's locked from the other side. Carry on without us, we'll get out of here soon."

Mio nodded. "Okay. Don't do anything dangerous." She chose the left path and let Mugi take lead since she was the Guard. Again, they were in darkness and they squinted, trying to catch the sign for anything about to happen.

"This sucks," said Tainaka. "Out of all the noob like things to do, why was it Azu-nyan?"

"She was just having fun." Elizabeth smiled for once. "Don't you think?"

"Noob, it won't be if she dies."

Ritsu, "Mio, can we slow down. I used up too much mana in that last fight." She had less than forty per cent, only just enough for one fireball.

"Okay, I used quite a lot too." Mugi was fine though, having used only one skill.

"We should be more conservative of our mana," she mentioned as they stopped to have a break. "I don't have many offensive skill so I don't do very much damage." A stray arrow suddenly hit the Prince, causing her to ready a defensive position. They other two stepped behind her, eyes open.

"Don't heal me," said Mugi, stopping Ritsu. "You'll need that for later." Understanding, Ritsu cancelled the action and searched.

"Another set of goblins." With a sigh, Mio began letting loose some arrows. "Burst!"

* * *

><p>"This is kind of boring," commented Giitar, pacing around the pit they were in. "I wonder if I can wall run up the walls?" She tried it, almost making it out of the pit but failed. "So close."<p>

"Ugh," sighed Azu-nyan. "This is so annoying. And why did you follow me?" Her friend pouted as though insulted by the remark. The Ninja began pacing around to find anything interesting.

"Nope, nothing." She approached the sitting fighter and waited. Soon, the cat girl looked up, meeting the intense gaze.

"What?"

"This is your fault."

"Ugh. I know." She paused. "And?"

"And it's your job to entertain me." Silence.

"How?"

The brown haired girl placed a finger on her pursed lips. "Kiss me."

Silence. "What?"

"That's how you're going to entertain me, kiss me." She leaned in. "Please?"

Backing away, "No," she replied with a hint of worry. Giitar didn't give up and almost jumped at her.

*Bang* Azu-nyan hit her head on the door behind her and twisted to the side in pain, narrowly missing the girl's kiss. The noise echoed over Giitar's cry of failure at her attack.

"What do you mean 'no'?" cried the little girl with a tear in her eye.

"What do you mean 'what do you mean?'" the smaller girl shouted back. "What the hell are you doing!" Suddenly, she shushed herself as they heard footsteps from the other side of the door. Quickly, the two hid and prepared. The doors opened and some goblins stormed in. They saw nothing. Then, from behind the doors they just opened, the pair attacked.

"Pierce!" shouted Azu-nyan, her new skill striking through the goblin into another behind the first. As the creatures struggled, impaled on the lance, Giitar finished them off with some simple strikes. Before the pair could hold the door, more arrived, pushing them back.

Azusa and Yui were surprised by the sudden attack, unaware of what had transpired.

"Uh oh," said Yui. "There are a lot of them." Goblins kept piling in, all with swords and shields, filling the pit they were in.

Azusa agreed. "We need to hold on until Mio-sempai can save us."

* * *

><p>Out of mana, that was the worst thing being a mage. Ritsu ordered her avatar to retreat, taking safety out of sight but she worried about her comrades whilst she rested, sitting round the corner.<p>

"Burst!" shouted Mio, one last time as she picked off some unaware archers. She watched her mana drop as she kept firing arrows afterward. "I'm out of mana as well." She kept shooting arrows, her avatar feeling the strain in her fingers as she continually pulled the string hopelessly back as they were swarmed. Only Mugi's Roar skill stopped the enemy from charging past and slaughtering the two lesser armoured comrades.

"Roar!" she shouted again, watching her health drop as she was fully surrounded, taking hits from all sides. The Prince grunted with each blow she took, particularly feeling the blades strike her back. "Bulwark!" The Prince raised her shield, casting a bubble around her and pushed the goblins away. Their attacks hit the shield, whilst enemy arrows deflected off. All the while, her mana was being sapped away. "Stop shooting Mio," Mugi asked. "I can't use my Roar skill if they start attacking you. Please get your mana back quickly!" The Archer sat down, understanding. Tainaka and Elizabeth sat there, resting their mana gauges. They waited, watching their Prince take a beating as she stood there, holding up her shield valiantly as her mana dropped to zero. Suddenly, a flash of light and a message saying "Level up!" appeared on their screen, granting them a small bonus to health and mana. Surprised, they realised Azusa and Yui must be fighting something.

"Let's go!" they shouted.

"Burst!"

"Fireball!"

* * *

><p>Yui stopped fighting for a short moment, flinging a potion at her comrade and healing her. Since they moved away from the door, hordes of the goblins kept piling through and charged with their little shields and swords. Their only saving grace was Azusa's Sunder skill but even that was useless when she was out of mana.<p>

"I have no more mana potions," replied Yui as her character drank another healing item. "This is it!" Her character darted forwards, covering her partner's back as she killed a goblin. The experience allowed them a level up, granting Azusa enough mana for another Sunder skill but she knew it was pointless.

"There are too many of them," shouted Giitar, voice breaking under the pressure as she parried two goblins at once with each of her weapons.

Azu-nyan, "We can do this, don't give up!" Like a commander, she barked words of encouragement, even though she was smaller. "On my pride I won't let you give up so easily!"

Giitar smiled. "And you wouldn't kiss me before." Yui looked at the corner of her screen and saw everyone in the party's health bars decreasing, realising that the other group were also fighting, and losing. "Sorry Azu-nyan," she said.

"What?"

Suddenly, the Ninja grabbed a hold of the Fighter. In one heave, she lifted her up. "Throw!" Yui clicked on the respective skill. Azu-nyan felt herself flying through the air out of the pit. She landed, winded. Before she realised it, the Ninja had disappeared.

"Giitar!" she shouted, after realising what had happened. The little girl had sacrificed herself to send her out of the pit. "I won't forget you…"

"I'm still here you know," said Yui. Azusa jumped in her seat. "I'm using stealth." The kohai looked into the pit, trying to find out where the Ninja was. The goblins seemed really confused, most of them targeted the Fighter but she was out of reach of their short swords. Suddenly, the doors to the pit closed, locking them in. "I don't have any mana left so hurry up!"

Azusa hesitated, not wanting to leave her friend. She bit her tongue. "Yes sempai!"

* * *

><p>Mugi stepped back, using up some more healing potions. Out of mana, the goblins were free to target who they liked. Only the Prince's constant moving from side to side stopped the enemy from advancing too quickly as they soldiered towards the Archer and the Mage.<p>

"Heal," Ritsu cried, stopping their Guard from dying. "I can't do anything for a while now, sorry." The mage ran far backwards out of sight.

Mio kept shooting arrows; fully aware her supply was beginning to run low, even though she had stocked to max before she came here. "We should run away Mugi." The Prince was stubborn though, hitting another goblin to draw its attention.

"I'm out of potions," she shouted. Mugi was frantically clicking, her character somehow following all orders in her tired state. Soon, some got through. Mio tried to pick them off, a goblin managing to cause damage to the Archer before she fired arrows directly into its face.

It seemed hopeless.

"Don't give up!" shouted a little voice. Suddenly, Azu-nyan appeared, charging forwards lance first. Prince Triton jumped back, giving the cat girl enough space.

"Sunder!" she shouted, dazing the goblins and sent them sprawling, getting lucky with a critical. The group went on the offensive then, ignoring what little health they had left. Tainaka was back, sending some healing spells to those who needed it. Reinvigorated, they took back the battle, slaying the last few goblins.

"That was close…" said Mio, resting her character. They all simultaneously sat down but Azusa.

"Yui-sempai's still out there, I'm going to look for her." The girl moved onwards, ignoring the protests.

"We should stick together," but they fell on deaf ears. After a few moments, Mio followed suit.

Ritsu, "We levelled up remember, we should allocate our skill points." With a sigh, Mio quickly adjusted them and followed after her kohai.

"I see," said Tainaka out loud. Only the Prince was there so she wasn't expecting a reply. "Ritsu went Cleric. Thinking for the team?" With that, she followed after the team.

* * *

><p>"Hey guys!" waved Giitar, sitting in front of a giant pair of doors. "I found the boss room."<p>

"She seems pleased with herself," commented Azu-nyan, "considering we almost died." The girl collapsed to the ground and rested.

"Because of you," cut in Elizabeth. "Running off like that. What happened?"

"Azusa forgot to click off the enemy and sent me off to attack…"

"But there weren't any archers in that pit," replied Giitar. "You just wanted a free kill." The girl didn't reply; talking was too much effort.

They began explaining what had happened to each group, Yui vividly digressing her story into an epic tale. Her throw skill could genuinely be used on anything it seemed, including characters.

"Then, like a ninja, I snuck out and locked them in their own pit. Mwahaha!" It was too cute to be an evil laugh and the others laughed with her.

"Oh Yui." They turned their attention to the boss now. "I don't think we're going to make it," Mio sighed. "We should head back instead."

"But we never know until we try!" inputted Mugi with her excited face. No one could refuse that face, but they knew it was there even though they couldn't see it at the time.

"What could go wrong?" asked Ritsu, confident as ever.

"We could all die," Azusa curtly put in. "And lose half our money."

Ritsu, "We don't have that much anyway so it doesn't matter. If we go back now, we'll have to face all of those monsters again."

Tainaka, "Actually, dying is an incredibly painful experience.

Elizabeth, "It's not something I'd recomend."

Giitar, "I won't be able to run away if it gets bad."

Triton, "…"

Mio, "Lets do this then!"

The avatars groaned.

* * *

><p>Similar to the way that the dungeon doors opened, these ones twice the size swayed on their hinges, creaking loudly. The room was dark save for some small lamps. They entered carefully. Soon, the flames burned brighter to reveal the grand corridor they were in. At the end of the passageway they could see a door with two stone guards beside it. Hesitantly, they edged closer but a sudden feeling told them to stop.<p>

The door opened.

Ten-foot tall, malting green skin with lumps the size of footballs and a hideous face to match, a goblin lumbered towards them. On its left arm was a round shield. It was dull and grey, similar to the flat helmet it wore on its head. In its other hand was a wooden club and in true, fantasy game style it was larger than it was. Nails protruded from the club and they could see the rust claiming the iron. The body wore no armour, only a strange leather shirt and trousers held its dignity. Then, all the doors closed.

It stopped, a good distance away from the group. It roared.

"Toblin." Three health bars appeared by its name, filling up to max as it ran forwards. Another health bar appeared by its weapon.

"Defend!" shouted Mugi, the Prince running forwards to meet the attacker and raising her shield. The Toblin raised its weapon high and let it drop, the shockwave of the blow almost knocking the Guard to the ground. Again, it raised its club.

"Burst!" and arrows rained down on the boss. There was little effect and unencumbered it struck down again, pushing the Guard to the floor. As it prepared the third strike, Azu-nyan rushed in.

"Sunder!" she shouted, swinging her lance upwards towards the club. She managed to deflect the blow, giving Mugi enough time to recover. "We can target its weapon," Azusa called out as the weapons health bar dropped a little. It wasn't much though and an arcing swipe of the club forced her backwards. They hadn't moved very far from the door and they could feel the pressure of being forced into a corner. Yui moved in to attack, managing a few swipes with both her kunai before being forced to retreat.

"Aim for the weapon," Mio ordered letting more arrows loose. However, most of the arrows glanced off the shield it suddenly raised, and with his other arm, jabbed at Mugi. She deflected the blows but each hit pushed her backwards.

"Fire!" but it was ineffective against the iron shield. "I need to circle round." The Mage ran forwards, hugging the wall. However, the Toblin didn't want that, aiming his club at the robed one.

"Roar!" shouted Mugi. Nothing happened, ineffective against the boss. Then, the creature lunged forwards, smashing the Mage against the wall. Mio flinched at the sound of crunching bones whilst watching Tainaka evaporate from view and her health bar disappear from her screen. She screamed in pain, the sound inaudible to the players. The avatars heard it though, their faces shocked.

Ritsu sighed. "Well I'm dead." Mio started to panic.

Azusa and Yui attacked the Toblin from behind, using Sunder and Twister respectively. The stunning effect from Sunder didn't work and the creature twisted round and swung the club in a large arc. Yui managed to dodge but Azusa was not so lucky. It caught the girl's none shield side and she crashed into the wall. She waited to be healed, then realised the healer was dead.

"Watch out!" cried out Mugi, protecting her friend from an attack. However, her change in position left Mio in the open.

"B-Burst!" As the Toblin approached the Archer, Mugi was too far away and the club came crashing down on Elizabeth, killing her instantly. They gasped, three of their team left but not even ten per cent of a bar done to the enemy.

Mio, "I'm gone…"

Toblin spun around and charged, swinging the club in an uppercut. Mugi blocked it but the attack sent her into the air. With her out of the way, the boss swung wildly at Azusa. She retreated, attempting to parry the attacks. "Pierce!" and she lunged forwards suddenly. The attack struck the Toblin, knocking it off balance for a few seconds. Giitar was in, jumping onto the creature and slashing madly. But then it punched at her with its shield arm; something that caught her off guard since her eyes were on the club. She felt herself hitting the wall, winded and unable to move.

"Yui-sempai!" Azusa stepped in front of the downed girl, stalling for time as the Toblin continued the assault. Parried once, parried twice. Then the creature held its shield forwards and charged. Azusa dived out the way, hoping the injured would make it out on her own. The Ninja was gone. However, her health bar was still there, meaning she had stealth-ed.

Mugi was back, attacking the boss from behind. Azusa stayed her position, hoping for the Toblin to go after Mugi and reveal a safe opening for her. It didn't, remaining focused on the Fighter.

"Sunder!" she cried, having to use a skill to parry the attack. Then, Azu-nyan cast the skill again, hopping towards the creature and smashing her lance into it. As it stumbled back, she lunged again, following up her attack. It was great, until the creature punched her with its shield arm. As Mugi was being ignored, her attacks doing pitiful damage, the Toblin raised its club over the cat girl.

"Azu-nyan!" cried out Yui. The club fell, ending her life.

Mugi ran. She headed for the entrance where they had entered and banged her hands on the door. Nothing. Nothing happened. She turned and raised her shield only to be knocked down to the floor. And the Toblin kept hammering away, bring the club to full height each time before bringing it down on the Guard. Her high defences and health kept her alive for a long time but she could do nothing and eventually, her health dropped to zero. Prince Triton disappeared into the air. Toblin still had over two and a half bars of health left.

It turned to the other doors. Yui was there, failing to open them.

"U-Um…" she stuttered. The Toblin did nothing, knowing what would happen.

Yui logged out.


	6. 6: The MMO world

Giitar lay face down on the floor.

Elizabeth, "If you drink any more –Tainaka- you'll get lost on the way back to your computer," the tall girl pointed out. She wasn't fairing any better herself as she downed another shot of straight vodka. Even Azu-nyan seemed to be going all out having a third cocktail (a gose) and not bothering with the taste test. The waiter seemed concerned but said not a word.

"I'm fine dog nabbing bit!" The Mage's slurred speech and incoherent words failed her as she slumped against the table, dropping her mug. The remaining liquid spilled over the floor.

"Even Giitar is depressed." The brown haired girl barely moved away from the spillage as she half rolled away from the table.

"Fourth time in a row…" Azu-nyan pushed her cocktail away with a sigh. "And we still can't beat that thing." The image of the Toblin annihilating them replayed in her eyes, the knock back of that club hitting them to the wall before the murderous onslaught. "And it seemed they've given up…"

"They haven't given up!" shouted Elizabeth. No one was surprised. She had done that several times that evening and each time she spilt something onto the exhausted Giitar. "They're just preparing for the next battle."

"We're broke," retorted Azu-nyan. "In fact, the only things we have are our level ten equipment and the levels we got." In the corner of her eye, the number sixteen flashed at her. "What level should we be able to beat this boss at anyway? The first time was level twelve or something."

Elizabeth moved her arm about, opening up Google chrome. The browser floated in front of her and she typed in what she was searching for. "With a party of five, fifteen. So we aren't that bad."

"Come on now, we suck…" The Fighter's blunt way of putting it made Giitar groan as she rolled around on the floor, mopping up the alcohol. No one bothered to stop her. They had given up since the second day. "And the players haven't played with us in a week."

"They're just planning!" She sighed afterwards, calling the waiter over for some food. A steaming lasagne was placed on the table and she stabbed it with a fork.

"Oh, we're heading out." Azu-nyan closed the message she had just received. "I'll see you guys in death later."

"Take that drunk with you and slap her for me." The cat eared girl dragged the Mage with her and ignored the doorframe letting the drunk's head smack against it.

"Even the Prince didn't hang out with us this time." Elizabeth sighed and picked up Giitar. "Come on little ninja, you get going too." She picked her up like a sack and dropped her out the door, no longer caring where she went. "Sorry waiter, I'll finish that another time." She was referring to the meal and, with that, fell out the door into the Internet.

* * *

><p>*Author's notes

If you've ever faced a boss and lost four times in a row then I think you'll understand the moods the characters are in at the moment.

I don't think I've made this clear but they're all playing this in the university dormitories, similar to the one in the manga (or my other fan fic) so they each have their own room next to each other.

*/

* * *

><p>"Yui?" said a voice by the door with a polite knock. "Yui, are you alright?"<p>

"Ui~" The guitarist moaned on the bed, flopping about like a fish on dry land. "I think Giitar is upset…" The Gibson Les Paul guitar rested on its stand. A little sunlight reflected off the cherry sunburst coating tingeing the room a little red. With a sigh, Ui sat next to her sister to comfort her.

"Why do you think Giitar is upset? You were practicing with your guitar all week for the concert." The day before, the Light Music club had performed for their university welcome day. It was a tradition that the club upheld and usually enticed many new students to decide to join their university.

"I meant Illusia Giitar." On the screen of her laptop showed an empty lobby screen, a field of grass. "And now she's run away!"

Ui was unsure how to help. "Maybe she's visiting Elizabeth." Yui yelped out at the thought though.

"She's cheating on me~." She put her face to her pillow and whined a little. "I never noticed…"

Ui sweat dropped. "I'm sure she'll be back soon." She was curious where the avatar had went but Yui was more important at that moment. She patted her on the head. "Don't worry."

Eventually, Yui was soothed. "Why don't you get a computer so you can play too?" It was the only reason why Ui wasn't part of the party- a lack of computer. Whilst Yui had instantly offered her laptop, the younger sibling knew that someone would be left out. Ui didn't want that guilt. "We're kinda stuck in the game and we need help."

Ui couldn't give advice on a game she had never played before so she picked up the instruction booklet. "I'll take a quick look in here." Something caught her eye though as Giitar stumbled onto the screen. "Giitar's back."

"Giitar!" Yui was by her laptop instantly. The avatar mumbled some words and seemed really tired. If they could smell where she had been, she would reek of alcohol- not that she drank anything.

"See, Giitar's upset."

Ui was surprised to see how closely the avatar resembled her sister and, indirectly, her. "I think she just needs some rest. Why don't you take a break from that boss?"

"Okay…"

A message appeared in the corner from Mio, asking what they should do today. Ritsu thought they were really close to beating the boss last time and that they might be able to push through today. Mugi was unsure though and Azusa agreed.

"You could join the MMO game," suggest Ui to them.

* * *

><p>"So we've given up," sighed Elizabeth.<p>

"Cheer up," replied Tainaka, fully sober again. "At least we get to go to a new place!" They waited in the lobby area, a field of grass as usual. Soon, the rest of the group appeared.

"What's happening?" asked Giitar in a teary eyed state. She rubbed her face as though she had just woken up. "Who threw me into the internet?"

"Looks like we're going to the MMO world." She looked at Elizabeth and smiled for the first time since they first went into the dungeon.

"Really?" Giitar jumped up and hugged their leader. "Yay!"

_Sudden change,_ thought the Archer.

"But," cut in Elizabeth. "I get the feeling this won't last very long." The giddy girl looked confused. "At least you're back to your old self, dramatic as it is." The Ninja smiled back.

"Well, looks like we're about to start." Their vision glowed white as they were transported onto the MMO server. "See you later."

* * *

><p>"Oh, where am I?" asked Mio, uncertain where she would have appeared. "Guys, where are you?"<p>

"Fishover," replied Ritsu. "Where are you?"

The title of the town flashed across the screen. "Port Sailin'." She could hear the frantic clicks of her best friend in her headphones.

"That's the other end of the map!" As the others relayed their positions to the drummer, she found none of them were close to each other. The map appeared slightly different to the RPG world as well. Every territory seemed to have a separate colour; some were blank. Each of the band members was in a separate colour. Then, Ritsu realised what had happened. "Hey Mio, which emotion did you choose?"

"Um..." Mio replied. "Hope/Fear."

Ritsu sighed. "Thought so. It seems we each chose a different emotion and ended up in completely different places."

"Hey, Archer, want to help out with a territory raid?" said a voice at Mio, interrupting her conversation. She jumped in her chair, realising who the message was aimed at. "Come on, it shouldn't take long."

Elizabeth looked at the man that started talking to her. Tall, with long black hair, wields a spear. She didn't say anything, not wanting to talk to a stranger.

"Sorry, I'm new here," Mio replied, typing the message into the keyboard. Elizabeth relayed the message in text rather than speech.

"Ah, excuse me miss. What level are you?" Mio answered quickly, aware her friends were waiting on her. "That's not too low a level for this raid. If you're an archer, you shouldn't get into too much trouble but I'll keep you safe." This guy talks a lot, thought Elizabeth.

"Hey Mio, what's the plan?" called out Ritsu, distracting her.

"Um…" She explained the situation of the stranger to her group, waiting for their opinions.

Ritsu, "Go on a raid, why not?"

Mio, "But…"

Ritsu, "We can meet up later. I want to explore my area a bit. There are loads of people and they seem to be kind of fun."

"Okay then." And suddenly she was on the territory raid. She introduced herself to the person who claimed to be Zack. "My name is Mi- Elizabeth."

"Awesome. I'm going to send you a party message now." It took a while for Mio to disband her original party, apologising to her friends profusely, before she accepted the invite. "Follow me then!"

Elizabeth followed the man but kept getting distracted by the fishing port they were in. There seemed to be a lot of fish about, not surprisingly, but the number of other wares was great. There must be a lot of trade here.

"You don't speak much, do you?" asked Zack to Elizabeth. The avatar said nothing in return. "Or are you non-sentient?" The girl stared back, inquisitively.

"I'm sentient."

"So you can talk!" He laughed heartedly. "I was worried I'd be alone."

"What do you mean non-sentient?"

"Oh, those who don't respond."

Elizabeth thought about Prince Triton. Was she non-sentient? If she was, it would be strange how only her would be the odd one out. However, if she was sentient then why didn't she talk at all?

"Something on your mind?" Elizabeth shook her head and followed him out of the port. Since it was the other side of the island she was used to, her eyes wandered a lot on the surroundings. It wasn't the usual meadows of grass but barren wasteland. The dirt was hard beneath her feet and the monsters around were strong, roughly her level.

"You're level twenty two," she stated at her comrade.

He nodded. "Took a long time too. Levelling in the MMO world is a pain since everyone tends to be a ridiculous level. Most of them take to the tower but you always get some bastard lurking on the island and taking control of all the territories." At the look of Elizabeth's worried face, "Don't worry, the place we're going after has been deserted for a while now. It's controlled by monsters at the moment."

Eventually, they met up with the party –no, army- that waited just outside the territory, blocked out by a red wall. Forty players stood around, waiting for the signal.

"Zack, you're late," called out a grizzled veteran. "We were going to leave you behind." He was an old man with a weathered face. His heavy armour and overly sized shield suggested he was a Guard class.

"Sorry," he replied. "I managed to get someone to help though." Smiling, he introduced Elizabeth.

"Who cares? She's just a newbie." He ignored her and began the mission briefing. It was as though they were about to march to war. "This is a level twenty area zone. We will be liberating 'Weld Wist town.' Stupid name I know but the experience will be worth it. The objective is a wipe out. See an enemy; kill it. Clean and simple. Monsters you are likely to see are the same as the ones you just passed, bugs and worms." Mio shuddered. "They have taken residence in the town. The geography is just flat otherwise bar the odd, dead tree.

"We're going to split into four groups. First group takes the north side, second the west and so on." Then he began splitting the groups. As the veteran neared the new girl, Zack stood by Elizabeth.

"I'm sticking with her." The old man nodded and sent them to the second group. "Zack, you're in charge of group two of course."

After a few brief introductions to her new group, a mixture of everything, they readied their positions. As Elizabeth watched the other teams disappear from sight, she looked at the red wall of the territory. "We'll be fine," said Zack. "Right team. Since we're facing flying bugs and worms, we need to work closely together. Worms can burrow underground so keep an eye out for our less defensive comrades." She was looking at Elizabeth at the time whose face reddened. As the leader, he began sorting out their positions and strategies and he obviously knew what he was doing. Long range units in the centre whilst the close range units take the flanks. At first sight of the enemy they would start shooting. When they get close, the flanking sides will charge and the centre group will support as appropriate. Mio understood, hoping she wouldn't hold back the party since she was under levelled. A party message appeared on all their screens, indicating they were about to start.

"Beginning territory raid in three, two, one."

"March!" he shouted, and they slowly marched forwards.

* * *

><p>Ritsu sighed, bored. She had been to Fishover before so there was nothing interesting to see in the barren town. She had lied to Mio so the girl would get out more. Flicking back to the map, she saw that Yui was closest to her. After a few messages, they decided to meet up and plan what to do next. Mugi and Azu-nyan were on opposite sides of the map so they arranged to convene at the capital city, Lota.<p>

* * *

><p>"Enemy sighted!" shouted Zack. With a few clicks, Mio targeted some blue buzz bees that were heading towards them.<p>

"Burst!" she shouted, sending a hail of arrows at the enemy, taking a good number of them down to everyone's surprise. "Um, I invested a lot into this skill." From around her, arrows flew and magical blasts exploded towards the enemy. None of the enemy reached the group so they continued to march.

"What Burst skills do you have?" asked Zack.

"Mostly the ones that shoot more arrows." She could shoot seven arrows that would split into seven each. The homing ability had been improved so much that the ones that missed could almost turn full circle for another shot. It was probably unnecessary though.

"A lot of people do that. It's great when combined with the Fireworks skill." With some explanation, it would basically make her Burst skill extremely flashy. It was a fairly bad skill since it could hit allies and the blinding light was distracting. However, when shot into the sky, it would be like shooting real fireworks.

"Next wave." Without hesitation, another Burst shot and a hail of arrows, they sent the enemies to their deaths. However-

"Worms!" They could see tunnels being burrowed towards them.

A mage stepped forwards and flung his arms forwards. "Quake!" he shouted, tearing the land apart to reveal the disgusting creatures. Elizabeth fired some arrows at them whilst Mio recovered from the shock. Wet, slimy tentacle creatures without faces. Their skin was coated in thousands of poisonous barbs. They darted at the centre crowd, angry with the archers and mages.

And the flanks closed in, striking the worms from both sides. Elizabeth retreated, knowing she couldn't shoot without hitting her allies. They won that battle with ease and they returned to their positions.

"What class are you, Zack?"

He smiled back. "I'm a Lancer." He held up his spear with pride. "It takes a Guard and a Fighter to become one. I'm not sure why being a guard is necessary but being able to use a shield is very handy at times." Elizabeth pointed out that he wasn't wearing one. "That's because I like to use two handed skills at the same time. My player equips and un-equips it when I need it."

The village appeared in view. It seemed the main battle had already started as they saw a hail of arrows collide against a swarm of bugs from the west side. They retaliated with their own long-range attacks sending back poisonous blobs of bile.

"Keep in formation," shouted Zack, refusing to charge. "Keep your guard up though." Mio ignored the urge to begin firing and scanned the buildings. Through the windows, she could see some bug nests and she pointed them out. "Thanks Elizabeth," the leader replied. He inhaled deeply. "Long range, draw some of the enemy towards us." Mio complied, setting up her Burst ability and letting the homing feature do the aiming.

"Took your bloody time," shouted a certain veteran. The avatars could hear him from across the field, though to Mio it was a simple party message. "Group four are down and fleeing and group three have charged in. My group are outside but we've lost a lot of good men already."

Zack took in the information. "Order group three to retreat and regroup with group four."

"Done that but they're trapped. Worms got paralysis on them."

Zack ran in. "I'll help them out then, the rest of you keep position."

"You idiot, don't get yourself killed!" As he ran into town, a cleric ran forwards and sent some protective magic after him. Elizabeth waited, taking her time as she shot at the aerial enemies. They kept on appearing though, were they re-spawning?

"The nests," shouted Mio to her party. "We should shoot the nests through the windows." They all agreed, concentrating their fire into the buildings. The close range fighters of their party were getting impatient though.

"Let's go and help out Zack!" they cried and soon they were marching forwards. Mio thought to stop them but it wasn't her place to do so. The others around her did though but were ignored.

"Let's go after them," said the earth mage.

Mio shook her head. "Zack told us to hold position. If worms head towards us, being in an enclosed space won't give us enough time to react." If they were in the enclosed quarters of town, they would get swarmed instantly. "It's too risky."

"Arg!" Mio looked around. The close range members of the group had been caught off guard.

"Idiots!" shouted Zack. "The worms laid out a trap. Get out of here!" There were screams of their comrades dying and ranged units all stood there, holding position. Soon, they gave into temptation and began marching.

"This is not going to end well," said Mio.

* * *

><p>"These enemies are really tough," said Tainaka. "The RPG world doesn't have enemies as strong as this." She was ignoring the dungeon boss they failed to defeat four times in a row, which didn't count.<p>

"Well, it's nice to be out and about again," replied Giitar with a smile on her face. "The Prince and Azu-nyan are probably enjoying this too."

* * *

><p>"Grahg! Haha, Die!" Tainaka imagined the cat eared girl going crazy on a killing spree against slimes.<p>

* * *

><p>"Maybe like that?" Tainaka asked, causing the Ninja to giggle.<p>

"Well, I think it would be more like this." She demonstrated it on a passing boar.

* * *

><p>"Sunder!" she shouted, Azu-nyan slamming her Lance into a group of icicle monsters. She spun around bringing the pole arm into an uppercut, driving some of the monsters away. Surrounded, cold, the chill mountain air cutting through her as she faced off the last few ice creatures. With another swing, she knocked one off the side of the cliff face she was fighting on and stepped back, getting away from the edge. Her vision was fogging up and she wiped her new goggles, getting a better view of what she was fighting. "Pierce!" she shouted again, impaling an iceman. Her lance broke through its shield and struck the heart of the creature, killing it. Another half turn, she raised her small shield to deflect some of the shards of ice another things was spitting at her. Stepping forwards, ignoring the blinding cold as a shard scratched her face, she lunged into the mouth of a smaller cuboidal enemy. It fizzled out of existence and she received her experience, levelling up.<p>

"That was close…" but she was smiling anyway. "I missed this."

* * *

><p>"Like that!" shouted Giitar.<p>

"That was an elaborate impression," retorted Tainaka with a face full of conflicting emotions on how she felt about it. "At least you got the mountains bit right." She opened her map to see that the Fighter hadn't moved very far. "We probably won't see her for a long time. Well, lets continue to the capital."

* * *

><p>Only two of the fighters survived the trap. The earth mage's quake skill freed the pair as the archers picked off the worms with precise aim. "You guys are lucky," shouted the healer, casting her magic. "Unbind!" and they could move again. They thanked the party and they decided to continue.<p>

"Group three have been cleared," shouted the Veteran, meeting up with them suddenly. "Zack has achieved his objective. Now, we clear out the houses. Destroy every nest you find. Watch out for worms." He was off, leading his group of warriors behind him.

There was no time to think. Mio ordered her avatar to search, sending every nest she found to the next world with her Burst skill. It didn't take long before something new happened.

"Everyone to the west side, hurry!" shouted the party message. Elizabeth jumped out the window, landing onto the street.

"Oh, you're still alive," said Zack. "And you've levelled up." She smiled, flexing her muscles. "But," he cut her off, "seems like a boss." He was off, running ahead like before. She followed, drinking a mana potion on the way.

"Arg!" shouted the earth mage, as he was flung over the houses and evaporating at the same time.

"He's dead," someone said impolitely.

The veteran was facing the boss on his own, deflecting attacks with his shield. Elizabeth hesitated.

The boss was of the worm type but much bigger and more disgusting. A great big bug's nest stuck out the ground, more monsters crawling out of it and taking to the sky. From the ground, tentacles lashed out at the attackers as it defended its territory. Three health bars; two of them were filled. "Mother swarm," it was called.

"Burst!" shouted Mio, volleying the smaller monsters. They were really weak being new-borns but their long-range spittle attacks caused really annoying status effects. The healer sent her spells towards their veteran and Zack was soon by his side, lashing out with his spear.

"Watch out!" cried out Mio, a tentacle aiming at his unguarded side. Suddenly, a shield appeared on his arm, allowing him to deflect the blow. Then, he spun around, the shield disappearing again.

"Sunder!" he shouted, slicing the tentacle clean. The boss wailed but received no damage to the main body. The veteran stepped in front of his pupil, deflecting another attack with his mighty shield.

"Don't drop your guard on a measly tentacle or bugs. Concentrate fire on the body!" He ordered that to everyone, Mio listening intently and learning. Her arrows aimed at the nest, sometimes killing off the stray bug and her long-range allies followed suit. Soon though, they were getting weary.

"Arg!" cried a high-pitched squeal from behind. Mio turned to see the healer being sucked into the ground. A back attack; worms were heading for her too. The other archers panicked, shooting at the ground to no avail. The healer's health drained to zero. She disappeared with a scream.

"No!" cried out Zack and rushed back to help. The veteran was holding off the boss on his own now. Then he realised Zack and he were the only close range fighters now.

"Sunder!" shouted Zack, breaking the ground and revealing the worms. Elizabeth was on it, the only one who stayed position. Three of the worms died at the close range Burst attack and Mio quickly replenished her mana with another potion.

"Sunder!" he cried again, freeing some of their comrades and the archers fired down at the worms. A lot of them began drinking potions, realising their healer was gone.

"Not good," cried out Zack, running to the front line and protecting the Veteran.

The archers were back to shooting the boss, one of them keeping an eye on their backs. They watched the second health bar drop below zero.

The boss began to sway as though unstable. The tentacles were sucked into the ground back into the nest as it began to collapse.

"Get back!" shouted the veteran. "Take cover!" They all retreated, hiding behind buildings. However, Zack and the veteran were too slow. The nest exploded, shards of poison splattered the surroundings and began corroding. Mio looked round the corner to see a worm where the boss had been dive into the ground.

"Captain!" shouted Zack. He looked up to see the veteran standing over him, shield in front.

"Take over, Zack." He died, protecting his soldier.

"Damn it." The lancer stood back up, leaning on his spear. "Where did it go?"

* * *

><p>*Author's notes

I've learned a new term- sweat dropping! A lot of the time I always imagined this reaction but never knew how to describe it. Source: Manga Iconography (Wikipedia)

Ui's first appearance! I hope I've got her character right. She'll get to play a bigger role in the second arc of this fan fiction so for now she'll only make infrequent cameos unfortunately, lovely as she is. Jun is at a different university but may appear randomly. I'm worried I'll introduce a load of characters and end up being unable to cope.

Also, in order to not completely disregard my other fan fiction, I have decided to only release chapters in this fic when I release one in the main one. I've decided this because the other one seems more popular (sad face)…

*/


	7. 7: Gang of Girls!

/*Author's notes

Warning, three characters are appearing from the manga that aren't in the anime (as of 12th feb 2014 at least) and this chapter kind of assumes you know them. Sorry about that.

I should have mentioned earlier that the group are currently Second Years in the University they got in to (since Azusa (a first year) is there.)

This fan fiction is derived from 'K-ON! Continued!" so characters (OC and from the Manga) from there may return.

I now have a cover photo! The desserts were from a cruise around Europe (I had the swiss roll, though I think they called it a Mercedes for some reason…)

To think I had this chapter for almost a month before publishing it… Sorry 'bout that.

Also, this chapter uploaded without any new lines. And NO ONE TOLD ME... A quick message would get me to sort it out! Doesn't any one care? *Angry face*

*/

* * *

><p>*Disclaimer

I do not own the following songs:

Hall of Fame by The Script

I do not own the following games

Borderlands (1&2)

I took some ideas from their weapon manufacturers, most notably Tediore.

*/

* * *

><p>"It's underground!" shouted Elizabeth. She fired a few arrows, destroying the remaining aerial bugs that annoyed them. "Be careful." Behind her, the archers hid in the cover between the buildings on the look out.<p>

Zack stood his ground in the open, waiting for the enemy. There was a rumble beneath his feet and before he could react, the worm burst out the ground, sending him into the air. One health bar left beside the boss' name, "The Mother."

"Zack!" the Archer called out and readied her bow. Taking advantage, she sent a full Burst shot at the creature, all the arrows striking the head of the boss and the word 'critical' popped up forty nine times.

Zack twisted in the air, slightly damaged but mostly unharmed. He aimed his spear downwards. "Diving Strike!" The Mother was retreating back to the safety of the earth but Zack sent the spear into the creature, creating a shockwave that blew Elizabeth to the side. Before she could recover, the boss had already fled and they anticipated the next attack.

Suddenly, the tentacles were back, striking at unaware archers and restricting them. The feelers aimed at the arms of their targets, preventing them from attacking. Before Zack could try and help, The Mother was attacking, knocking him to the side.

Mio felt a surge of hopelessness again, just like the time she failed against the Toblin. Elizabeth fired, aiming at the boss.

_No, I'll do this_, Mio thought. Her will resolved, she cast the Burst ability, causing more damage to the boss. As it disappeared, she turned around to free her allies, letting her Burst buff help cut them loose from the tentacles. Some of her comrades had died but she told them to stand in the open. The buildings were preventing the team from helping each other.

Another grumble beneath their feet, Elizabeth darted to the side, avoiding the boss itself. It seemed to find the girl a bigger threat now. "Pierce!" and Zack stabbed his spear into the side of the creature. It's health dropped to yellow, half way. "We're almost there, keep it up!" As the worm dived back into the ground, the back end of it, its tail, flicked upwards. Chunks of earth were sent into the air and the archers panicked, running around to avoid the falling debris. Then, the tentacles were back, restricting movement as the soil landed on them.

"This is ridiculous!" shouted one of the archers before he died.

"Burst!" and she smashed some of the bits of earth before they hit her allies. Before she could shoot at the tentacles, the boss grumbled beneath her and before she knew it, she was launched into the air.

"Elizabeth!" shouted Zack and jumped after her. In mid air, he caught the surprised girl. "Come on, don't go dying on me." Awkwardly, he pulled out a potion and put it to her mouth. She blushed but didn't resist.

Down below, the rest of the archers were decimated, sucked into the ground by tentacles and the raging 'Mother'. It had already hidden before Zack could counter attack so he changed his fall. To protect the girl in his arms, he threw her to the side onto the roof of a building before he hit the ground.

"Zack!" she called out as he stood back up, ready.

"Stay on the building, it's safe there. Watch out for tentacles!" Elizabeth nodded, standing in fighting position on the roof. She drank another health potion just in case as the fall had damaged her. Then, Zack jumped to the side. He raised his spear into the air with both hands. "Sunder!" he cried, slamming it into the ground just as the boss was approaching.

"Burst!" Mio mimicked, raining arrows down. The boss dropped into red. As it dived, the tail end struck Zack, knocking him down. He rolled, avoiding the falling earth and tentacles that tried to grab at him. The worm, faster, angrier than before, lunged at the fallen warrior. Elizabeth was running before she realised it, diving off the building towards her comrade and drawing seven arrows at once.

"Burst!" she screamed, sending all the arrows into the head of the creature. With an explosion, the boss burst into hundreds of gleaming stars, dead. She landed, falling to the floor out of breath.

"Elizabeth, are you okay?" cried out Zack, taking out a health potion and feeding it to her. She took it from him instead before the bottle met her lips.

Mio looked at her mana. "Zero per cent huh?" she commented as her avatar gulped down the liquid in hearty gulps.

A message appeared before her. "Congratulations! You have claimed a territory!"

* * *

><p>"It still amazes me," said Tainaka standing on the 'ring.' Giitar and the mage stood on the hill and gazed at the capital city. This time, the stairs up to the city was completely filled as players marched up and down to and from the capital. Some carried massive backpacks of wares; others were armed to the teeth. The pair joined the crowd heading up.<p>

Inside was even more stuffed as many of the players in the MMO had set up shop. Ritsu's and Yui's screens was filed with text, shouting over on top of each other in order to be heard, each claiming to be cheaper than the last. Soon, the pair made it to the square where some music met their ears.

"Oh, that's new," commented Ritsu about the sounds. At the centre were some musicians by the fountain. They were doing a cover of 'Hall of Fame' by 'The Script.' The three girls were really good and Ritsu was particularly attracted to the drummer, sharing some kind of synergy. They were even taking in money as they busked, people throwing money into the guitar case of the guitarist and singer of the band.

"It's Akira!" shouted Yui, running up to the front. "Ritsu, look! It's Akira! And Ayame and Sachi!" The band didn't stop playing but they sent a message.

"What are you guys doing here? And it's Rosalie!" They noticed a slight mistake in Akira's singing and realised she was singing live somehow. They waited patiently, waiting for the song to finish and applauded politely when it ended. Before they could get a chance to talk, requests were sent at the band and the two girls were pushed away by the crowd.

* * *

><p>"Thank you Elizabeth for your hard work today." The veteran nodded at the member of the party. "I would like to formally invite you into our guild, the Lion Hearts." Mio paused, thinking about it. Elizabeth waited for her orders, hoping she would say yes.<p>

"Sorry, but I have some friends that I need to be with. Maybe next time?" She had no idea what a guild was but she would rather be with her friends. Mio couldn't wait to tell her story to the others. She ran it through her head, deciding to skip out the part where Zack had intimately fed her a potion.

"But you won't get any of the territory bonuses!" replied one of the mages, the healer.

Mio, "What do they do?"

"Basically a lot of money, some free stuff and cheaper shopping in this area." Elizabeth didn't particularly enjoy the territory very much. It was a wasteland filled with bugs and worms. _What was not to like?_ she thought sarcastically.

"No thanks. I levelled up a lot though and I had a lot of fun." Elizabeth bowed with grace. "Thank you for having me."

Zack stepped forwards. "Then you can have some of my share of the loot. You did save the day after all."

"You'll do well, kid," said the Veteran as Mio looked at the money she had just received. It was much more than she could accept but Zack kept blocking her request to return it. "If you ever want to come back, we'll be waiting." Suddenly, Mio was bombarded with friend requests. Without thinking, she accepted them all, not wanting to appear rude.

"By the way, did you get anything from finishing off that boss before?" asked Zack.

Mio checked her inventory and was faintly surprised. "Yes, an egg."

Everyone gasped. "Wow, that's amazing!" Elizabeth's confused face had them explain she was going to get a pet. Surprised once more, the raven-haired girl thought about the idea of having a pet.

"It won't be a bug or worm, will it?" asked Mio. She had had enough of them.

"It's fairly random, but probably not. Good luck raising it. You'll need an incubator for it though." As they explained the pet mechanics, Zack was talking to Elizabeth. "What colour is the egg?"

"White with some spots." He shook his head, asking whether there was a star on it. "Yes, a silver one."

He smiled. "That's a very rare egg then. Keep it safe." With that, he leaned in and gave Elizabeth a kiss in the cheek. She didn't react for a few moments, save for blushing a deep, deep red.

"See you later then," he said and left.

* * *

><p>The Prince soldiered through the land, slowly taking out monsters as she made her way towards the capital. The swampy land she was in didn't help as the slimes and strange plant like creatures snared and slowed her down. As a Guard, her offensive abilities were un-invested so her standard attacks were taking a long time to kill a monster. She kept her resolve though, taking little damage whilst she smashed her sword down onto the monsters.<p>

"Hey, need a hand?" said a voice, calling Mugi. She glanced backwards to see a tall, blonde man staring at her. "You've been there for twenty minutes. That's enough time for monsters to spawn again." The Prince didn't reply as Mugi received a party message. Glad for a friend, she accepted.

"Cool!" he shouted and pulled out a sniper rifle. "By the way, don't touch the lines my gun shoots, you'll shock yourself." And he pulled the trigger, the bullet piercing several monsters at once. Mugi could see the trail the bullet had left and it cackled with electricity.

"An electric gun?" she asked, using her Roar skill and attracting the monsters back to her.

"Yeah," he replied. "Level thirty Zeus manufactured Bolt action sniper rifle." There was a lot of pride in his voice and he fired again gaining a lot of criticals on the monsters. Before long, they cleared the area. The lines faded, letting Mugi approach and thank her rescuer. "No problem. You aren't a solo player though, what are you doing out here by yourself?" Mugi explained that she was heading to the capital to meet up with her friends. "You've got a long way to go, I'll help you out."

"No, no, I can't ask that from someone I just met!" He smiled back though.

"I'll just have to ask for compensation instead then." The Prince showed no reaction and neither did Mugi. "I'm joking. Just trying to loosen the mood, you know? My name is Jon, yours?"

"Prince Triton."

He paused. "Aren't you a girl though? Why does your avatar have a guy's name then?"

"Well," she began. "I was naming her after my keyboard but my keyboard is very masculine."

"Seems legit," he replied, not believing what he was saying. "Well, shall we hurry on then?"

As they walked, Mugi queried about his gun. "Oh this? I got is as a present from a friend who doesn't use guns." Mugi inquired about the name so he explained the manufacturers of the game. "Most weapons are made by a brand or player. The ones made by manufacturers are usually rare drops but you can by them from certain places. Anyway, the manufacturer called 'Zeus' made this gun and they make great magic weapons. A gun is a bit rare for them though. The Zeus bit is what caused that electric line." He sent an image of the weapon card to the Prince and she read it. "It saps my mana but I think it's worth it, especially as I'm not a mage."

"You're so lucky, I only have the set iron equipment."

He stopped in his tracks. "Wait, isn't that the stuff you get from the level ten gift box?" She nodded and his mouth hung open. "How have you survived for this long? Equipment is one of the most important aspects of this game!" It wasn't. Skill point allocation was much more important than equipment. He checked her level. Sixteen was much too high for level ten equipment. "Right, we're going shopping in the next town."

* * *

><p>"Forestree village," Mugi read out as they entered, wondering who came up with such lame names.<p>

"Sugoi!" The entire settlement was raised above the marshy ground in the trees. They climbed the ladders onto the wooden platform paths the people walked upon and they headed towards the nearest shop.

"This territory is currently owned by Desire/Disgust and they don't sell very good equipment…"

"I want this one!"

"Are you even listening?" He sighed and looked at the armour she was looking at. "Heavy plate, good. Made by Disgust, has a chance of causing blind to attackers. It's level thirty so it'll last." That was why it was so shiny and stood out from the rest of the equipment. Smiling, Mugi purchased it with the money she had just received from the monsters they just beat before.

"Thank you, Jon-san."

He flushed red. "No, no, it's fine. Just happy to help out a charming lady as yourself." His avatar thought otherwise since the Prince hadn't said a word since they met.

"Great, a mute," Jon's avatar thought.

Mugi equipped the armour and stood there shining, her armour sparkling even in the dim light inside the building. "What next?" she asked.

"A nice shield or sword would be good. That armour will probably last you past level thirty." They headed off, finding a good weapons shop. As Mugi fawned over the range of items, Jon patiently waited, occasionally dissuading the girl from buying useless things like a boomerang.

"What about this sword?" cried out Mugi, testing out something that she just picked up. Jon checked it out.

"It's made by Django who are pretty decent. They tend to be more flashy than useful though."

"What about this sword?" eyes sparkling.

"That's a Vopal, they make the best swords. Some of them can be thrown."

"How about this one? What does the ability do?"

She's like a child in a candy store, thought Jon and sighed. "Yeah, another Vopal sword. The ability, Return, summons the sword back to the user when thrown which can be pretty useful. It's a trait that most Vopal weapons have."

"I'll take it!" cried out Mugi.

"Think it through first."

"Oh," paused Mugi. "I don't have enough money." Even though it was a low level weapon, it cost fifteen thousand gold. "One moment." She messaged her friends. Suddenly, they each sent her the money, fifteen thousand each.

"Wow," said Jon. "You must have some great friends." He noted how quickly they each responded. "With that much money, you could buy the best weapon in the shop!" She couldn't, but Mugi toyed with the idea.

"But there is still other stuff I want to buy."

"It's better to buys one really good thing than lots of little things. Else, you'll end up replacing them all sooner than you think."

Eventually, Mugi bought an even more powerful Vopal sword, the throwing niche winning it over the other weapons. However, she didn't have enough money for anything else so they left hurriedly.

"To the capital!" Mugi cried, sweetly.

* * *

><p>"Akira, what are you doing here?" shouted Yui, if she could shout via a text based message. She did so by sending it all in capitals.<p>

"It's Rosalie, damn it! And turn off your caps lock."

"Neh, Rosalie," said Ritsu, "What are you guys doing here?"

They began introducing themselves. "My name is Yoshida," cried the Blonde, bashing her drums giving out a good solo. "My role is the healer but don't let my Fighter Monk skills catch you off guard!"

"Sacchan, at your service," said the bassist, copying her friend and pulled out a deep solo. "Sniping from long range with my gun."

"My name is Rosalie, the Ravager of our party," Rosalie finished the group. "Together, we are

"Gang of Girls!"

Yui applauded. "Ritsu, we need to come up with a cool pose like that too!" She began air guitar-ing. "I am a ninja, ready to rock your world for I am Giitar and much cuter than Rosalie!"

"What," the opposing guitarist shouted back. Ritsu left the two alone, staying out of the argument and began a meaningful conversation with the other two.

"Where did you get your instruments?"

Ayame, "We had them made for us. A GM, a game master, helped us out and got them from the tenth floor for us."

"We want instruments too," replied Ritsu.

"I have no idea how to play though," said Tainaka. "I'm a Mage, not an entertainer."

"Unfortunately, we find ourselves in that position," replied Rosalie. She gave a charming smile that clashed with the tough look Akira normally had. "Just go with the flow, and our masters play for us." Of course, Ritsu would have been shocked at the smile on Akira's face but Tainaka had never met Rosalie's player.

"That's not how you do it!" Yoshida cried over her comrade. "Bishi, Bashi and Boshi, that's whatcha you gotta do. Everything With Passion!" She demonstrated, the crazy drumming, smashing everything at full blast with a face of pure bliss. "Yargh!" It would take a skilled liar to say there was a beat in the noise; all of the avatars in the square covered their ears.

"Thank goodness the players can't hear that," replied Tainaka. "Otherwise, Yoshida, your master would disown you."

Tainaka paused, looking at the bassist and trying to judge her personality. She said nothing.

"That's boring," she commented. "Is she a mute?"

"That's a horrible thing to say!" cut in Rosalie. "She has feelings, just like we do."

"We have someone like her in our group too. She's called Prince Triton."

"That's a lovely name but it still isn't very nice to call people mutes just because they choose not to talk."

"That's right Tainaka!" Giitar pounced onto the mage, pulling her to the ground. "We must send our feelings to our handsome Prince and share our love together!"

"What is your avatar doing?" asked Akira, causing the conversation to pause uncertainly.

"Oh, Giitar always does that. Look, Giitar, go get Rosalie!" Like a puppy after a thrown stick, she bounded onto the guitarist with a massive hug. Tainaka, glad to be free, watched them all get along.

"Oh yeah, we need some help," she asked, catching their attention.

* * *

><p>*Author's notes

That felt long-winded to me. I'm going to cheer myself up with a bar scene then some fighting next chapter. It was difficult choosing names and personalities for the 'Gang of Girls.'

For some reason, each of the group had 15,000 gold to give to Mugi… I'm going to pretend that they had that legitimately and not due to some plot hole.

If you have played Borderlands 2 (Aged 18 game btw) then yes I have copied the idea of differing brands of equipment and items; in particular, as stated before in the disclaimers, the Vopal swords' copying Tediore in the form of returning to the owner. (If you haven't played, to reload a Tediore gun, you throw it at the enemy and it explodes like a grenade before returning to your hand fully loaded.)

Right, after this I'm going to stop putting in filler and get on with the tower.

*/

* * *

><p>"That was amazing!" shouted Giitar, hugging onto their leader after her territorial battle story against worms and bugs. "I wish I had been there. It sounded really fun!"<p>

"It wasn't. I almost got raped by those worms." She recalled how the healer was sucked into the ground before dying. "Not a fun thought." Giitar didn't seem disturbed by it and kept bouncing up and down.

"So Azu-nyan, what happened to you? You didn't even get off that mountain you spawned at."

Matador Tequila. She swirled the liquid in her glass. "I got lost." She drank.

"That reminds me of the time you ran into a pit," pointed out Tainaka. She put an arm around the little fighter, taking a swig from the pint in her hands. "That's so noob like."

"Yeah Azu-nyan." Giitar went onto her other side and put her arm around the girl. The cat girl was beginning to get uncomfortable as both the Mage and the Thief leaned on her. "You should really watch were you're going."

Azu-nyan, "Anyway, what are you going to do about that egg?" Elizabeth looked at the corner where an egg sat inside an incubator. She knew the girl was changing the subject but the potential pet was a concern for her.

"A bar really isn't the best place to raise a pet."

"Depends what kind of pet it is," replied Giitar, letting go of the cat girl (she sighed). "If it's a goblin it will feel right at home here!"

They heard a toilet flush in the background and Prince Triton appeared back in the room.

"Pri~ince!" she cooed. "You missed the entirety of Elizabeth's story with all the bugs and worms and death!" The guard managed to stop her face going green. "I'll tell you all about it on the way home." The Prince left right then, stepping out into the Internet.

"Aw…" but the Ninja chased after her out the door.

"Right, I'm off too," stated Tainaka. "Thanks for the drinks waiter." He nodded back, clearing up the table. Azu-nyan finished her drink, letting the waiter take the cocktail glass away.

"We're all different levels now," she pointed out. "That's going to be really annoying."

Elizabeth smiled. "I was lucky to go on that raid. I almost died several times though."

"I'm surprised you didn't. From what I could tell, you were under levelled."

"I was, wasn't I?" She dwelled on the thought, wondering why only she and Zack survived. "Well, the veteran died saving Zack so that's why he died but it doesn't explain why everyone else did."

"I heard something interesting today." Azu-nyan leaned on the table towards the leader. "Something about mutes being weaker." Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at her inquisitively but she shook her head. "That's all I got. By the way, just because someone can talk doesn't mean they aren't a mute. It's something to do with sentient things." The girl got up to leave, thanking the waiter. "Makes me wonder about our Prince. Good night, Elizabeth."

The Archer noted something. "I think that's the most she's said in one go." The lights went out as Mio turned off her computer for the night.


	8. 8: First Floor Dungeon, Round 5

"Why don't we," Giitar slammed her hands on the table dramatically. Elizabeth jumped. "Kiss?"

The leader paused, her heart stopping. "What?"

"What's with everyone's reaction?" The girl crossed her arms and pouted as though someone had taken a treat from her. "If you won't kiss me, I'll take your waiter!" They both looked at him at the same time to see his reaction. Nothing happened as he kept polishing a glass. "Well that was boring." Nobody knew that he had somehow stopped himself from blushing.

"I'm back!" shouted Tainaka. "Oh, it's just you two. Waiter, a pint please!"

"You seem happy," asked the archer. The mage sat next to her and placed puller her close.

"Who wouldn't be in their favourite bar?" She caught the mug and began drinking.

"This is the only bar you've been to." She pushed the mage away and waited for the others to arrive. "So what do you think we're going to do today?"

Tainaka, "The dungeon!"

Elizabeth, "Are you drunk already?"

"We met up with some girls yesterday," pointed out Ritsu, "whilst you were on a date with that spear guy…"

Elizabeth hid her blush. "Zack."

"Yeah, that one. Anyway, the three were in a band and are friends with our players so we're going to team up together!"

"What are they like?" Knowing your hand is essential during battle.

"A fighting Cleric, Yoshida. A mute Sniper, Sacchan. A Ravager, Rosalie."

"Yui says I'm cuter than her," pointed out Giitar, needlessly.

"What's a Ravager?" asked the leader. She brought up the skills menu to find out. "A cross between a fighter and a mage. Interesting." The Ravager skills generally imbued the user's weapon with magic and could cast a lot of self-buffs. However, debuffing the enemy was the main point of their skill roster. "They seem like they would be really useful."

"I know right?" A message popped up for all of them and they read it quickly. "Ah, The Prince and Azu-nyan are in the lobby."

"I'm going first!" shouted Giitar, racing out the door. Tainaka followed, Elizabeth close behind. The waiter cleared up, closing the door behind them.

* * *

><p>*Author's notes

How did I make them, Azu-nyan and Tainaka (and sometimes Elizabeth), alcoholics? All the cocktails that I have mentioned are taken randomly from Wikipedia's list of cocktails. I have not stated any opinions on them, as I haven't ever had any of them before (I don't drink/I don't like the taste of alcohol.) I could rant about alcohol and the like but I won't force my opinions on readers.

Besides, everything in moderation. He says whilst writing twice as many chapters of this fan fiction in half the time it took to write that many chapters in the other fan fiction.

Also, two characters are mentioned here that are in 'K-ON! Continued!' but not anywhere else (or check my profile page- there may be spoilers though). The group know them of course but I'll put in some brief introductions and backgrounds at the appropriate time.

To differentiate between the new people and their characters, I will list them here.

Character: Avatar

Akira Wada: Rosalie

Ayame Yoshida: Yoshida

Sachi Hayashi: Sacchan

/*Warning: There is some pretty violent talk soon…*/

Time to stop procrastinating in the author's notes; time to procrastinate with the story!

*/

* * *

><p>"It's a pleasure to meet you, Elizabeth. My name is Rosalie and these are my comrades, Yoshida and Sacchan."<p>

"Right…" Elizabeth was fairly surprised. "Nice to meet you too." She was sensing a personality rift between her group and their group. That was until she saw Yoshida and Azu-nyan conversing politely.

Azu-nyan, "I like to spear my enemies all the way though. The bleeding effect lasts even after a few minutes whilst their innards drip out."

Yoshida, "I don't have any sharp weapons, like. I love to use my fists to break their bones and generally smash them to pieces so that they don't have any arms to retaliate. I randomly get the bleeding effect if the bones shatter into shards and pierce the flesh from the inside though."

Azu-nyan, "I've had that a few times with the blunt side of my Lance, particularly when I use Sunder and get a critical head shot. Brains and blood go everywhere and it gets messy. Good thing we don't have to clean up."

Yoshida, "Cool! When I fight, they never expect a Cleric's fist to go through go through skulls like crows smashing eggs on the floor."

In the background, Prince Triton stepped out of the lobby area to hurl. When she returned, Sacchan comforted her as nobody noticed her temporary disappearance.

"Where is she?" asked Akira, referring to the Mage of the group. "She was supposed to be here half an hour ago."

"Sorry," replied Mio. "She's just had a lecture on the other side of the campus. She'll be here soon."

"Seriously, she asks for our help and then makes us wait." The guitarist sighed. "And why is Yui in my room?"

"Because it's more fun together!" The smaller guitarist clung onto her and the others could only imagine what was going in there.

"Sorry I'm late," shouted Ritsu as they heard her running into her room. "My lecturer held me back."

"Did you forget to do your assignment again?" Mio knew she was spot on and didn't bother waiting for a reply. "Seriously, you should stop playing this game so often and concentrate on your studies."

Soon, Tainaka joined the lobby. Mio was the party leader again but she no longer questioned it.

"Right, lets begin then!"

* * *

><p>"Burst!" Elizabeth initiated the first attack, arrows sinking into the flesh of the enemy goblins that waited in ambush. Tainaka followed up with her Fire attack, lighting up their way. As the opponent archers counterattacked, Yoshida stepped forwards and held up her staff and cast a barrier, deflecting them harmlessly to the side.<p>

The close range fighters charged. Azu-nyan led the attack, her Lance leading the way into the enemy. "Pierce!" she cried, breaking through the enemy ranks allowing her teammates to follow through as well. Before they knew it, they had routed the enemy. This time, Azu-nyan didn't give chase. However-

"Let's go!" and Yoshida ran into the dark tunnels.

The cat eared girl couldn't help but to smile. "Someone who understands me." And she gave chase.

"Azu-nyan, wait up!" They whole group stormed after them, expecting to fall into a pit at any moment. Halting at the crossroads, Yoshida motioned them to jump into the pit.

"Come on, they went down this way!" She jumped off before they could stop her.

"Does she know it's a trap?" asked Elizabeth to Rosalie. The guitarist smiled back.

"Of course. We have been here before. I think it is most important to stick together." So she followed suit, Sacchan right behind her.

Elizabeth sighed. "If you guys knew it was a trap, why jump down?" Tainaka slapped her on the back, almost pushing her head over heels down the steep slope into the pit.

Tainaka, "Come on, we're together and that's what matters."

Elizabeth, "Since when were you so chummy?"

Azusa waited by the doors of the pit, expecting the army of goblins about to arrive soon. With a glance at the Cleric beside her, she wondered what she was doing on the front lines. "Ayame-sempai?" she asked, "Don't most clerics stay at the back and heal?"

"Yeah, but I'm also a Monk who are close range fighters." Her character pumped her fists, tightening the gloves on her hands whilst holding her staff between her legs. "It's no fun if all I do is stand around and heal." Azusa agreed silently in her head but wondered what came first to her, healing the party or smiting enemies.

The rest of the group arrived behind them as the doors suddenly opened, goblins armed with swords and shields charged.

Yoshida, being the closest to the door, stuck first though. "Shockwave!" Slamming her fist into the ground, a ripple of energy shot forwards through the floor and caused a tremor, shaking the earth and disorientating the enemy.

"Sunder!" Azu-nyan followed up. The stunned goblins blocked the entrance and Tainaka took advantage of the clustered enemy, sending in a fireball that engulfed them all.

"Pierce!" The Fighter thrust her spear, pushing the goblins back into the corridor they had just arrived. If they could hold the door, they could fight them one by one in the narrow hallway. Too bad they all couldn't fight at once since Azu-nyan and Yoshida took the whole doorway. Elizabeth supported, firing arrows over her allies. Beside her, Sacchan readied a sniper rifle, something that caught Triton's eye. They waited for her to announce a skill but she just fired, a bullet soaring through the door and piercing several enemies at once.

"One," she said, surprising everyone.

Reloaded. "Two," as another bullet cut through the enemy. Reload, "Three."

"She keeps count of how many bullets are in that clip," answered Rosalie. "It's important for a Gunner to know how much ammo they have, especially at our level."

"Four." With a click, the clip dropped out and the sniper replaced it quickly, aiming down the sights again.

"Ammo is really hard to get below floor ten of the tower," Rosalie explained, "and even then it's expensive." The Sniper stopped firing, figuring she had supported enough. With a look towards the guitarist, she nodded. "I'm going in now. Please tell Azu-nyan to switch out with me."

Elizabeth nodded and shouted at the cat girl, telling her to stop taking all the kills. "Fine." She fell back behind Yoshida and the Ravager dived in, flicking out a rapier style weapon and began lunging in quick succession, a silver blur piercing the enemies' shields. The Prince supported her, running to her side.

"Darkness," Rosalie whispered. A black cloud enveloped her blade and she sent it forwards, blinding the enemy. "Poison." Now, green swathed the area and they goblins began choking. The Prince stepped back but Rosalie comforted her, knowing the effects didn't affect allies.

"Ravagers are debilitators," said Ayame to the group. "They hinder the enemy in various ways so that we have an easier time beating them."

Mio nodded. "I wouldn't expect Akira to be a Ravager though. I thought she would have been a Fighter."

"She is," answered Sachi. "But if combined with a Mage, you can become a Ravager. Akira's magic isn't very good though."

"Hey, I'm going to let you clean up then." She ordered Rosalie to retreat, her job finished.

"My turn!" shouted Yui and Giitar complied. Rosalie felt a small gust of wind as the girl darted past. "Twister!" The Prince stepped back out of the way of the spinning top called Giitar as her skill pulled the enemy towards the spinning blades. A small tornado built around her and when she stopped, the vortex was sent forwards and clustered the enemy together. Together, Triton and Giitar finished off the enemy.

"That was surprisingly easy," noted Ritsu. "I barely used any skills."

Ayame, "Yeah, it was. Normally, they make it through the doors and Sachi has to waste all her ammo. You guys are good."

Mio, "No, we've never made it this far as easily as this. You guys were really helpful, particularly the Ravager's debuffs."

Akira laughed. "Thanks."

Ayame, "We might be able to defeat the boss this time!"

Mio paused. "I thought you had beaten him before?" Yesterday, Ritsu had told her they were going to complete the dungeon with some more friends without much more explanation after that. Of course, she had learned from Yui it were the Gang of Girls that were going to help but they gave off the impression of confidence they were sure to win. Now, Mio was not so sure.

Akira, "What gave you that idea? Was Ritsu getting carried away again?"

Ayame, "Don't worry about it. The last time we came here we were level thirteen and we're much better now, we even had a teacher!"

Yui, "Wow, who was your teacher?"

Sachi, "It was Koyuki and Runa sempai."

Mugi, "It seems like the whole Light Music Club plays this game."

Koyuki and Runa are fourth year students studying psychology and art respectively and are living out. Both are musicians as a hobby but it seems they like to play games too.

"That's surprising," though Mio. "I thought they would be studying hard for their final year."

"People need to wind down sometimes." Their characters arrived a large set of doors, the entrance to the boss room. "Wait, that's it?" Turns out, after the pit, the corridor led straight to the boss room. "I thought there would be more enemies."

"There are down that way." Ayame pointed out the other pathway that would lead back to the crossroad. "Lots of archers there though. We could back attack them if we like but they won't bother us if we don't bother them."

Mio sighed. 'Right, we should come up with a plan."

Elizabeth agreed with her master. "We've been here four times before but every time we have been slain. This time, the Gang of Girls are here to support us and we them. Since last time, we have new equipment," she looked at Triton, "new skills," she looked at Giitar, "and we're all a higher level." In fact, she had levelled the most because of the territory raid she went on that no one else had. As the strongest at level twenty, Azu-nyan was close behind at nineteen whilst the other three were at a comfortable eighteen. The Gang of Girls were also at that level making them fairly balanced altogether.

"I should go in first," answered Akira. "If I get my debuffs down first, they'll be a big help throughout the battle. Aside from that, we should play as normal."

Mio gave it some thought. "Sounds good."

Elizabeth shook her head. "Guys, stick to the roles which you are used to. Prince Triton, make sure to keep the Toblin away from Sacchan, Tainaka and I since we have no defences. Yoshida, I don't know how you play but make sure to stay alive. Your healing skills should be really helpful, particularly if Triton gets low on health."

"What about the Toblin's weapon?" asked Ritsu. "Should we go for the weapon or just attack the boss?"

Sachi, "Koyuki and Runa said that if any of us have breaker skills or something like that then breaking the weapon as early as possible is for the best. Otherwise, don't bother."

"What are breaker skills?" asked Azusa.

"Skills that break things, obviously," retorted Akira. "Something like your Sunder skill if you've levelled it up enough."

The girl checked. "Yeah, I have."

"Let's try breaking the weapon then. It should get easier after that."

"Also, Runa said that the Toblin's knock back is the hardest thing about the boss, even with its shield. The best way of beating it is just to not get hit, and that it's quite slow for a boss." They all were taking it in. Ritsu commented on the 'don't get hit' part, claiming how obvious it was.

"Right, is everyone ready?" asked Mio, ignoring her friend. Elizabeth waved her hand in front of the door, sending a message to her master.

"Do you want to fight the boss?"

"Ready!" everyone chorused.

Mio moved her mouse to the tick symbol. "Okay."

* * *

><p>Everything seemed much faster this time. The doors opened, the lamps burned and the boss appeared. The doors shut, locking them in, the boss roared and the health bars appeared, initiating the battle.<p>

"Toblin." And everything was back to its usual pace.

"Darkness!" shouted Akira and smoke poured from her blade. She ran in towards the charging goblin, Yui close behind and ready to support. The Toblin swung its club down but Rosalie was fast, side stepping at the right time and slashed up towards its face, trying to get the black mist into its eyes. But the creature blocked with its shield, deflecting the Ravager to the side. Giitar followed up, striking its unguarded arms. And she darted back, avoiding another swing of its weapon.

"Sunder!" shouted Azu-nyan before it could retreat behind its shield. Her attack struck its body, knocking it back. The girl hopped up again, raising the lance above her head. "Sunder!" she screamed, slamming the weapon into its chest. However, it recovered quickly, aiming a punch with its off hand arm at the girl.

"Force Shot!" A bullet flew through the air, knocking the boss back before the counter attack. Azu-nyan looked back to see Sacchan count a one and reload.

"Don't space out Azu-nyan," called out Yoshida. "Shockwave!" The Monk punched the boss's weapon, causing damage to it. "Shockwave!" She punched again then retreated before the thing could strike back.

Elizabeth moved closer but didn't circle round, staying behind the guard. "Burst!" she shouted as soon as she saw an opening. Hailing her arrows down, Tainaka followed suit, both of them targeting the weapon.

"Fire!" The boss raised its shield but it was too slow; the fire engulfed the club instead. Surprised, it retreated back a few steps.

"Silencer!" shouted Yui as her Ninja appeared from the air, cutting downwards as both her blades aimed at the creature's throat. Its health began dropping; a double critical bleeding effect clung beside its nametag. The Ninja disappeared again stealth-ing and waiting for the next perfect opportunity to attack. Akira followed up, casting a poisonous cloud about her weapon. This time, she struck at the legs. In a yelp of pain, it kicked out, sending the Ravager flying away but it had been poisoned, the gradual damage over time sending its health to the second bar.

"We're doing well guys!" Mio cried out the words of encouragement as Elizabeth fired more arrows. They were doing much better this time. Yoshida healed her allies before diving back into the fray, sending more shockwaves at the Toblin. As cracked floor caused it to stumble, Azu-nyan took the opportunity to attack the weapon.

"Sunder!" The weapon's health dropped below half and they cheered. Triton moved forwards to apply pressure on the boss as it retreated further and further back. Sacchan moved forwards to get a better shot.

"Two," and she fired. A piercing shot cut through he weapon and into the beast, dealing damage to both. Soon afterwards, fire struck the creature, setting its weapon ablaze as the wood caught fire.

Azu-nyan stepped back. "What the-" She was flung back, the flaming weapon striking her whilst the flames distracted her.

"Azu-nyan!" cried out Yoshida, retreating to heal her. Triton stepped up, guarding her allies.

"Well this is awkward," noted Elizabeth. The Toblin was now wielding a flaming club. The only good thing they could see was that the weapon was being damaged. "Everyone on the defensive. If you can, destroy its weapon! Burst!" arrows flew but did little against the club.

"Sunder!" shouted Azu-nyan, stepping in front of the Guard and lashing out. This time, the boss blocked with its shield. During the lag after the attack, the Toblin swung, knocking the fighter out of the way. Yoshida was healing quickly as Triton stood her ground.

"Bulwark!" Mugi cried, her avatar raising her shield up and creating a barrier of her mana. The Toblin kept swinging its club down onto her, her mana dropping with each blow.

Akira tried the darkness attack again, attacking from behind. But, somehow, it knew and it twisted round and struck out, catching the Ravager off guard. She landed off to the side, caught by Yui's hidden ninja. Before the Toblin could attack the girl on the floor, they both disappeared under Yui's Stealth skill.

"Sunder!" Azusa was running low on mana but Ayame had completely run out. Yet the Cleric still charged in, flinging punches at the boss. Watching the second health bar of the boss drop to zero fuelled her resolve.

"Get back!" shouted Mugi, running forwards but her allies did not head her warning as the blazing club caught Ayame. Suddenly, her health dropped to zero from full and she evaporated from view.

Azu-nyan stepped away, surprised at the sudden death of her comrade. It was the first time the Cleric had been hit. "Died in one hit. I will avenge you, Yoshida!" Diving in, she called out one last "Sunder!" The Toblin parried the weapon with his then lashed out with its shield, knocking the girl to the ground. Tainaka appeared from nowhere, sending healing magic to her fallen comrade. As the boss struck downwards, Triton defended. Then, as the club glanced off her shield, she swung her weapon upwards, dealing one last bit of damage to the weapon.

With a loud shattering noise like the smashing of a thousand panes of glass, the club broke into shards of light and disappeared into the air.

"What now?" asked Mio, edging her character forwards. Sachi followed closely.

"ROAR!" The Toblin was mad. It swung its arms round in a mad flurry, forcing some space around itself. Then, it charged.

Mugi held her ground as the Toblin headed right at her. Elizabeth and Sacchan were far enough away but Tainaka was too frail to leave alone. The Guard took the full force of the attack, her character being sent to the ground several yards away. As Tainaka was sending her healing magic, Rosalie had reappeared.

"Darkness!" she cried, back attacking the distracted boss. Success, the cloud enveloped the monster's head and it wailed, struggling to see.

"Silencer!" The darkness would give the Ninja more perfect opportunities to get criticals and she took advantage of it instantly, stacking more bleeding effects. It swung out though, the shield large enough to catch her. Suddenly, it recoiled as a bullet knocked the arm the wrong way.

"Three, Force Shot."

Azu-nyan stabbed at the boss's legs as Rosalie kept applying debuffs, decreasing its natural stats with each lunge of her blade.

"Burst!" Elizabeth was much closer now, tasting victory in the air. "One last push!" Even Prince Triton was attacking, carefully blocking blows with her shield as she swung her blade. They watched the health begin dropping to zero, finally.

"Four," and the final bullet killed the boss. Sacchan reloaded instinctively, replacing the clip, as the Toblin called out in agony and began fading away, feet first. The sound of doors being unlocked could be heard as the boss disappeared.

"We did it!" shouted Yui, suddenly jumping onto and clinging to Akira.

"What! I forgot you were in my room!" she shouted back as the rest of the group laughed.

* * *

><p>*Author's notes

I've finally finished the opening part of the fiction. I'm going to skip some levels since I am definitely not going to go through one hundred floors of bosses; interesting as it may be to come up with a unique final enemy for each floor. Even then, they may lose some battles so they'll have to redo bosses. Basically, I can put in filler chapters to develop characters (and their relationships) as they approach the next part of the story, VR systems.

Runa and Koyuki will have some moments in a few chapters but that's for then, not now. The Gang of Girls won't be hanging with the Afterschool Tea Time most of the time (because the party is too big for me to handle- try visualising all eight characters at once then describe it all in real time to someone!)

VR is short for Virtual Reality, taken from the anime 'Sword Art Online.' I can't wait until they get implemented- I lie, I can wait since I'm putting in filler.

Due to upcoming exams on my part, the next chapter will be a while. Please be patient, thank you. (A better explanation is in the final author's notes of 'K-ON Continued Chapter 8')

Also, please review. I like them :D

Time to hit the bar!

*/

* * *

><p>"Kampai!" They all raised their glasses and clinked the glasses together. After a long drink, each of them began chatting away. Elizabeth smiled at their group. It felt as though a weight had been lifted off her shoulders now that they could continue.<p>

"Three, two, one, go!" Suddenly, Tainaka and Yoshida was downing a pint each, struggling to get the golden liquid down their throats. The Mage finished first obviously, slamming the glass on the table to prove her win.

"Victory!" she shouted, slapping her new drinking buddy on the back. "Once more!"

Rosalie, "This is a lovely bar you have here, Elizabeth." The Ravager gave the Archer a smile. "It's a very nice place to be in." Sacchan nodded in agreement.

"Thank you but it was already here when I arrived. It belongs to Mio."

"Eh?" shouted Yoshida across the table. "No fair, all I get is a bed." With a look around the room, her eyes fixated onto the waiter. "And you get a man too, I want him!" Luckily for him, the drunk didn't make a move. "And you get an egg."

"That was a boss prize," the Archer replied. "I don't know what will hatch though."

"I'm hungry. Let's have scrambled eggs!"

"No!"

"I'm kidding." Yoshida was surprised to see Elizabeth with her bow out. Trying to take the attention off her, she changed the subject. "Hey Sacchan, what boss prize did you get?"

In reply, the Sniper showed everyone an item card.

Elizabeth, "A medic pack?" It was equip-able as an accessory. "Allows for quick use of the healing item stored in the medic pack." Sacchan put it on to demonstrate, a white box with a red cross strapped to her belt. Rather than wasting a potion, she inserted a glass of water from the bar into the item. Then, when she pressed the cross, water sprayed over her.

"Oh, that's cool." Yoshida frowned. "But a weapon would have been so much cooler." She imagined the possibilities. "A giant flamethrower would be really awesome."

"Can you even get flamethrowers in this game?" asked Elizabeth. The Cleric shrugged.

"I bet there are Anyway, I need to head off. Ayame's turning off her computer now." Rosalie and Sacchan said their goodbyes and quickly jumped into the Internet.

Elizabeth, "Giitar, you haven't said very much this evening. Is something wrong?"

The Ninja shook her head. "I was just wondering what's inside that egg."

"I don't know but I hope it will hatch soon."

Giitar nodded. "So does Yui. She's kind of excited." The girl took off towards the door. "Good night!"


	9. 9: Heart Kiss

/*Author's notes (15th feb)

As you can tell, revision is going well, me posting this up early. Actually, as you may be able to tell from the date, this was written 1.5 months before the moment the last chapter was put up (that was April 1st)

Also, thank you readers for viewing! Because, I have reached a grand total of 1000 views! (Over 1000 of course, not exactly 1000. I promise I didn't log out and hit the refresh button to get those views too.)

Also, random spoiler/incentive, VR systems will be partially introduced in chapter 11. (Please don't get your hopes too high though. But not too low either! There, that's perfect (like I know?))

*/

* * *

><p>It had been a week since they had all broken into the tower. Whilst their masters fawned over the new landscape, Elizabeth herself was fairly disappointed. The view that had greeted her was more plains. It seemed a lot more rural as the landscape was dotted with trees that topped hills with valleys that had rivers. She couldn't see the point of it all. However, a new floor is a new area filled with possibilities. More towns, more quests, more territories simply told them how far away they were from completing the game. Tainaka had looked up that no one had finished the game, ever, and that in the MMO the top most floor was currently forty. The game had been released almost a year ago.<p>

The Archer sighed, standing in the lobby area as Mio started the game. Surprised, there was no party made and she was whisked away into the MMO world on her own.

"Where is everyone?" asked Elizabeth, knowing there would be no reply. "Oh well…" And she was standing in Weld Wist town. Not surprising, since she logged out from there last time she was in the MMO world. She quickly looked around for Zack subconsciously. However, her friend roster told her he wasn't online. "Okay, into the shops." Mio bought a teleporting crystal, setting the destination to the capital.

Soon, the Archer was crammed in the streets of Lota and she fought through the crowds towards the 'Spiral', the staircase to the first floor dungeon. And then she waited, Mio seeming to appear idle. Elizabeth couldn't hear anything from her master since her microphone off but she assumed something was happening on the other end. People pushed past her, making their way up to gaze at the views or to challenge the dungeon. It seemed to be popular as the Archer was constantly shoved and told to get out of the way by other avatars.

Eventually, something caught her eye. In the distant crowd, the glint of yellow flashed at her and she focused her attention on it. Gold hair, it seemed, and she climbed up the stairs a little, gaining height so she could get a better look. The figure moved towards her; she assumed the person was heading to the dungeon.

"Wow," she exclaimed. "She's pretty…" As the blonde walked closer, the crowd parted before her as though her presence demanded it. Her face was carved by angels, her lips bursting cherry red and looked so inviting. Her hair fell from her head like a golden waterfall, smooth and silky. Towards the end of the cascade of hair, they spiralled into reverse drills. Stunning to say the least, Elizabeth barely breathed.

"Good morning, you must be Elizabeth-san." A lot of people turned and looked, no glared, at the Archer as the angel addressed her. "My name is Heart Kiss."

Mio flicked on her microphone, connecting with someone. Elizabeth paused, straining her ears towards her Master. A confused looked was written on her perplexed face. _Who was this woman and why was she addressing her, _thought Elizabeth, _and what is with everyone staring at me like that?_

"Oh, I can hear you Suzuki-sempai," said Mio. "Is that your avatar, Heart Kiss?"

"Koyuki is fine," she replied. Elizabeth relaxed a little. At least her master knew what was going on.

"Oi," shouted an onlooker. "Don't disrespect Miss Heart Kiss like that!" Elizabeth barely looked at the person. "Bow before her!"

Heart Kiss sent a glare at the bystander, sending him silent.

"There seem to be a lot of people that know you, Koyuki," Mio said. On the screen, many people were pointing out Heart Kiss' presence.

"Yeah, I'm kind of famous in this game."

Mio gasped. "How did you get famous?"

"Something to do with the front line and being in a band. We sometimes play on here as well so we get a lot of fans."

"Miss Heart-sempai, what are you doing here?" asked an avatar.

Some more began asking her questions. "Are you going to play something for us?"

"I have a request!"

Elizabeth stepped back, suddenly separated from the angel.

"Not today," she replied. "I'm helping a friend now." A lot of people turned on Elizabeth with jealous and envious eyes.

"So," asked Mio, "can you help us, please?" Elizabeth looked around, realising she had just missed a vital point in the conversation her master had just had.

"Of course," Koyuki replied. "But I don't have enough materials. Do you want to come with us?"

Mio, "Is Runa here?"

Koyuki, "She's currently painting me playing." With a short giggle, she sent Elizabeth a gift item. "Let's go then." It was a teleport crystal. As Heart Kiss waved goodbye to her fans, Elizabeth used the item and it sent her to the floor ten.

* * *

><p>"Wow!" This was definitely a new environment. It seemed like they had just stepped into the industrialised world. Factories pumped smoke into the atmosphere as vehicles powered by fuel and magic drove by. The sky was part grey, part brown, something that was new to the Archer. It was as though life had been dipped in a sepia tone. Even Heart Kiss had been changed in colour yet her golden locks still held a stunning sheen.<p>

"Wow I look weird," commented Mio.

"You mean Elizabeth," Koyuki corrected. Mio didn't answer, not understanding the difference. "Right, this is where we're going to manufacture what you want in this town of IndustRev. I have all the woods we need but I don't have any strings or enough iron." Mio received a party message and she accepted.

Soon, they were hurrying along through the town, Elizabeth absorbing the unique place she was in. Every now and then, she could hear people's surprised looks and responses to seeing Heart Kiss there. She looked in the corner of the screen.

"Sugoi, you're level eighty five! That's over four times my level!" No wonder people admired the girl she was following. "How long did that take?"

"I started playing when the game first came out. Don't worry; it gets easier as you go along. You'll be my level before you know it." _Didn't that take a year,_ thought Mio.

"What class are you?" Elizabeth asked. If her sempai was an archer, she was going to feel fairly redundant.

Heart Kiss, "Freelancer and Summoner for now." After a few more questions from the kohai, she explained. "A Freelancer needs to be a Fighter, a Guard, a Mage and a Cleric classes combined. Freelancers aren't very special but generally have very high stats. Summoners require a lot of Mage class. I have enough skill points for both." She smiled pleasantly at the Archer. "What do you want to be when you get stronger?" There was no condescending tone in her voice though Elizabeth felt a little annoyed.

The Archer thought for a few moments. "I guess I'm going to be a Ranger. I think Mio chose to be an Archer so she didn't have to fight close range. I guess this class suits my master quite well."

"Good answer, but what do you want to be?" Elizabeth didn't understand. "You will one day. You are as much a person than your master. Look, we're almost there now." They reached the mines. Tunnels delved deep into the ground, Mio shivered at the thought of going into the dark. "Time to light the way." Heart Kiss began casting some magic, symbols danced around her until she sang the third line of her spell. Then, the letters formed a word in English. "Archer." The glowing word sank into ground and the light erupted into form.

"This is Archer. Archer, meet Elizabeth."

"Um, hi." In front of the girl was a glowing figure that held a bow as tall as him self. When the figure didn't respond, Elizabeth tried to make conversation for some reason. "How are you, I'm an Archer too."

Heart Kiss laughed. "Don't worry, he's a mute I think. They never answer back and they disappear after a while." Suddenly, she and the Summon began casting some more magic. The spells fell onto Elizabeth to her surprise, filling her with energy.

"Right," Koyuki told Mio, "I'm going to disband the party after we enter the dungeon. The monsters should be a little tough but I'll keep you safe."

"Why are you going to do that?" asked a surprised Mio.

"Since Heart Kiss is such a high level, your character won't get any experience since the exp is shared. Now that you're here, we may as well give you a few levels. I'm just buffing your Eliza-chan so we can sweep through this area with ease. Also, my Archer summon should provide you with arrows so don't worry about ammunition."

"Summoning is really impressive," commented Elizabeth, watching her arrow stock get refilled beyond max.

"It's really expensive in skill points though," replied Heart Kiss. "To get the summon class, you need roughly fifteen levels of the mage class. Afterwards, you need a few levels in the Summoner class to even summon anything. Then, you need specific classes to summon what you want. This Archer summon needs a few levels in the Archer class to summon." It seemed like the Freelancer had her skill points spread thinly across the board. "I want to try out everything though. It's fun this way, being able to do a lot of things." She smiled. "And Koyuki agrees with me." Before Elizabeth could ask, the dungeon started and they were sent into the dark caves.

"Disbanding party. You should keep your buffs. I'll go on ahead and keep the enemies on me. You take them out."

And so she led. The Archer summon stuck close to Elizabeth, acting like an escort. When the monsters appeared, bats and worms, burrowing from the ground and swooping from the ceiling, Mio initiated her Burst skill. The only time she flinched was when spiders were attacking. However, they dropped the string that they needed.

"They're level twenty five," she noted, four levels above her. However, thanks to all the buffs and the magical arrows her sempai provided, all the battles ended quickly. Her burst skill was effectively shooting sixty-four arrows in one go so the large swarms of enemies were blown away. Not a single point of damage got to the Archer.

Mio, "That was very quick." They stood outside the boss gate. "I even grew up two levels."

Koyuki, "What are you going to put your skill points in?"

Mio, "I can become a Ranger or a Hunter but I don't know which one is better. Which one should I go for?"

Koyuki, "Why don't you ask Elizabeth?"

Mio, "Huh?" There was no answer on the other end of the line and the bassist stared at her screen, watching her avatar in her idle state. "Um… Elizabeth…" She felt really awkward talking to her computer. "Do you want to be a Hunter or a Ranger?" Mio crossed her fingers, hoping that her sempai wasn't making fun of her. Hopefully, Ritsu wouldn't burst into her room at that moment. However, the Archer opened a menu in front of herself as though looking through the skill list. Then, with a touch of her finger, the skill tree appeared before Mio with the Ranger class highlighted.

"A Ranger?" She read the description. "Rangers build on the skills with the bow in a straight forward manner compared to the Hunter class. They keep their distance and are great supporters, learning many buffs for themselves and for teammates, and eventually learning the Call for Help skill that summons an ally." The said skill was also highlighted. It would take a lot of levels to reach that point, but it seemed Elizabeth wanted that skill. "Okay…"

Heart Kiss smiled at the Archer. "Well done."

"Well she did ask."

"I might recommend putting a point in the Hunter class, just for the extra bonuses."

"Right." With a few flicks of her finger, she highlighted the Hunter class, startling Mio for a second. She read the description.

"The Hunter class expands the range of skills, becoming more versatile including in close range combat making them excellent solo players. Their trap skills are useful for hindering opponents with de-buffs and can buy time for Hunters to get distance on the enemy."

Then, Elizabeth highlighted a specific part of the Hunter class. "Ten per cent less aggro from enemies just from joining the class, which is nice."

After the skill points were allocated, Heart Kiss opened the doors.

"Right, it's the boss now. You can probably handle it but I'll reapply the buffs on you just in case." With a smile, Heart Kiss planted a peck on the Archer's cheek, much to her surprise. Suddenly, all the buffs were reset to their maximum timer. "That was a Holy class skill, part of the Cleric class." Again, she was showing off her broad range of classes but Elizabeth paid no attention as she placed a hand where the angel's lips touched her. It was still warm, or was she just blushing?

"Let's go!" The Freelancer turned and walked through the doors.

* * *

><p>"Level twenty eight MoleRunner, only two health bars and each of its claws have a health bar each." Heat Kiss walked to the centre. "You can't see it at the moment but when it pops up, attack quickly. Don't worry about me, I won't take enough damage for it to do any harm." Suddenly, the ground exploded, sending her skyward. A large, star nosed mole appeared from the ground like in a whack-a-mole machine. Before the Archer could even draw her bow, the creature was gone.<p>

"Hurry up, it might go after you so please don't die." With a wink, the angel landed softly. Then, she jumped, the boss reappearing beneath her as its nose scented her out. This time, Mio got an attack in.

"Burst!" she cried, all the arrows hitting the creature before it retreated. It looked similar to a blind pink rat was in her head, fairly disgusting in her opinion. This time, the boss targeted Elizabeth but the Archer Summon managed to pull her out of the way. At such close range, she launched another Burst skill and aimed at the critical spot, its nose. Sixty-four 'Criticals' flashed across the screen, an immensely satisfying feeling welled in Mio's chest as she saw she had dealt over half a health bar of damage. Koyuki replenished her mana with a quick spell and reapplied some buffs.

"Burst!" The Summon was doing a great job of keeping the girl out of harms way, narrowly avoiding damage himself. "Burst!" She got a second attack in before it slunk into the ground. Twice sixty four is one hundred and twenty eight.

"That's a lot of criticals," mentioned Koyuki with a smile across her face. "Well done!"

Two more Bursts later the boss was finished, dealing no damage what so ever to the party. "Congratulations! You beat the Floor Level Ten Boss!"

* * *

><p>"Time to go make some items!" shouted Koyuki, bringing them back to IndustRev. With a quick stop by the shop to sell any excess items, they went to a local manufacturer. "Right, this floor is where the company Django manufactures." Mio was intrigued, not knowing about the different designers that were in the game. After some explanation, she understood. Checking her weapon, she noted it had no manufacturer, meaning it was a plain, common item. "Django are the most stylish of weapons out there. Of course, Runa is better at styling." She smiled knowingly as Elizabeth looked confused. "Here is the request bay."<p>

They entered a small factory and walked to the reception desk. Suddenly, Mio was given a large number of gift items, the materials that she needed. "Just talk to the receptionist and she'll lead you through it. I don't think I've missed anything but let me know if I have."

Smiling, Mio conversed with the receptionist, Elizabeth following the options she chose. "Oh, we're getting a bass." However, they had way too many materials for the bass. A range of designs appeared before them, most of them based off real life basses.

"Wow!" Mio's eyes sparkled at the sight of all the left-handed instruments. She quickly imagined herself in her character's position, trying out the range in front of her.

It took her much too long to make her choice and the thought of keeping Koyuki waiting hurried her. She chose the Fender Japan '62 Reissue Jazz Bass in 3-Tone Sunburst (source: K-ON Wiki), her own bass.

"Oh, it can be used as a weapon?" Mio called out in surprise when she saw the weapon card on the item. She equipped it regardless, putting her bow in her inventory.

"Yep. The Entertainer class who are part of the Merchant class uses instruments. And so does the Fighter class technically. I don't know how they work though. I've yet to see an Entertainer to be honest so I don't know how useful they are." Elizabeth imagined being in such a class, juggling knives whilst playing the bass seemed quite peculiar in her head but entertaining none the less.

"Right, now to make the guitars." Mio flicked through the choices, eventually finding Yui's Gibson Les Paul Guitar and Azusa's Mustang in candy-apple red. However, she wondered whether the others would choose something else since all the designs there were the same price. After a call to her friends, they agreed to take a look themselves.

"Thank you so much Koyuki!" cried out Mio. "You've helped us so much."

"Don't worry about it. Runa and I really enjoy hearing you guys' play. When you have your first online concert, invite us!"

"How do you play live on this game?" asked Mio. She imagined her microphone was not high quality enough to play live music.

"You need to get permission from the gaming company and they will hear you play a few songs. If they accept you, you'll then need a GM to be around when you play.

"Oh, Runa and I aren't GM's by the way but we can find someone for you."

Mio nodded, getting a little excited about playing together in a band in the game. Of course, she had forgotten how shy she would be when the time came but her real life bass was in her hands already and she played a few notes.

"Oh, and take this." Another gift from the sempai, Mio opened it quickly.

"What is it?" she asked. It looked like a bow but it was silver rather than wood. However, in front of the grip was a large shield attached to the weapon with a large hole to allow for the arrows.

"It's a shield bow," replied Koyuki. "It's a shield and a bow in one! They aren't as wieldy as normal bows but this is the best thing I have that I don't need anymore so you can have it!" The weapon card showed it was a level fifty item.

"Thank you again, Koyuki-sempai. This will last me a very long time."

"Oh, I need to be going now. Runa's cooked dinner." She sent a friend request, something Mio gladly accepted.

"I hope you enjoy being with Mio," said Heart Kiss as she logged out. "Good luck."

* * *

><p>*Author's Notes

So that's Koyuki and her avatar Heart Kiss. Runa, her flat mate, has an avatar called Heart Bliss. As both of them are on the front line, of course they're at such ridiculous levels. If I had to compare the levelling to Sword Art Online, one should level up twice for each floor in Illusia.

Whereas the safety margin in SAO is ten levels higher than the floor. That implies you only level up once per floor. I don't particularly like that so everything is going to become overpowered in this game. I will counter this with overpowered enemies; that makes things balanced, right?

I have an in depth class system that I have full view of and you guys don't, so whilst Koyuki and I know what they're talking about, I have no idea whether you do. I could stick the list on here but things are liable for changes and they may contain spoilers. Thinking about it, Mio's on level 23 or something, she probably should have class changed by then (it's roughly ten levels a class.) Oh well.

Oh, and when Koyuki said Runa was currently painting her playing, she meant that Runa had a canvass and was painting a picture of Koyuki playing MMO Illusia, not actually splashing paint on her girlfriend (more information on these two are found in the other fan fiction, K-ON! Continued! and on my profile, though there may be spoilers on my profile… They don't have a big part at the moment so I'm kinda skimming over them until they actually play a part.)

The word 'angel' isn't capitalised in this chapter because Heart Kiss isn't in the Angel class yet. I'm just describing her as such.

*/

* * *

><p>"Sugoi!" shouted Giitar, taking the guitar into her hands and pulling the strap over her shoulder. She did a pose, giving the 'peace' sign with her fingers. "How do I look?"<p>

"Like a dork," pointed out Tainaka as she took another swig from her glass. She was uninterested in the drums that had been set up for her. "We don't even know how to play these instruments so there's no point."

Azu-nyan agreed with her. This time, she had a Kamikaze. "They're pretty useless… Why did we even get them?"

"Because our masters are in a band," pointed out Elizabeth. "And we're going to have to perform at some point. What was Rosalie's band like? Where they any good?"

"No." Tainaka called the waiter over to replace her drink. "It hurt my ears." She was referring to the drumming. "Yoshida can't play for drink."

"Yahoo!" cried out Giitar, trying some notes. "I'm getting the hang of this!" With no musical guidance at all, they had no idea what they were doing and stared at the Ninja pretending to jam on her new guitar.

"Just because you're name is after a named guitar, doesn't mean you're any good at it."

Prince Triton stood up and walked to the keyboard that was laid out for her. Everyone paused and stared at the usually silent guard. She stretched her fingers out dramatically, and they didn't know what to expect. It would be some kind of sick joke at them if the could play as beautifully as Mozart.

Her fingers hit the keys. No music sounded.

"You need to turn it on," pointed out Elizabeth and the Guard went a little red in embarrassment.

"Ha, even our mighty Guard can blush!" shouted Tainaka, even though the alcohol made her face redder than a tomato. This time, when she hit the keys, some notes were played. After a while of messing around, she tried to make a tune.

"Is that the theme music of this game?" asked Elizabeth. Triton smiled.

"Whaat!" shouted Tainaka, slamming her mug to the table. "She smiled, oh my god she actually just smiled."

Giitar hugged the pianist, almost knocking the keyboard over in the process. "Now you are officially one of us!" The Prince went red again, unsure how to respond.

"We still don't know how to play though," cut in Elizabeth, ending the celebrations short. "And you two aren't even trying!"

"What about you? All you've done is stand around and order people about." The bass hung loosely around the Archer's neck.

"I have played-"

"Show us."

The Archer paused. With a few glances at the oppressive stares from everyone in the room, including the waiter, she sighed and gave in.

"I'm sorry…" The room darkened and a spotlight fell over her. Then, she tried playing the bass.

And everyone covered their ears.

"Ow!"

"Stop!"

"No more!"

Elizabeth sighed again. "Your turn guys," she pointed at the two by the table. "Show us what you've got."

"Oh, Ritsu is turning off her computer."

"Yeah, I need to be off somewhere. See you later!"

"Ugh… Was I really that bad?" Elizabeth looked towards Giitar and Prince Triton. They had gone. "Why do they keep doing this to me…"


	10. 10: Still Trudging in the Mountains

/*Author's notes

This is currently a placeholder for anything interesting I have to say that is appropriate for this moment in time; however, nothing comes to mind except ranting. Sorry for wasting your time…

*/

* * *

><p>The second years, Mio, Yui and Ritsu were all working, concentrating on some assignments that they had yet to complete whilst Mugi had gone home for the weekend. Unlike her sempais, Azusa had kept on top of her assignments by working whilst playing Illusia. As her computer booted up, she wondered what she was going to do for the day.<p>

"I could play on my own," she thought at first but the lonely idea put her off. She pulled out of her notes hoping to revise.

"For what exams…" It was still early in the academic year. Beginning revision now would seem obsessive. It was also quiet in the room. Instinctively, like she had for the past week, she double clicked on the Illusia icon, a purple haired female.

"Hm…" A patch update appeared on the screen, telling her to wait. However, the image announced a tournament. With a few clicks, she was on the main webpage. "For the first year anniversary, we will hosting several tournaments in commemoration of this event." Entry requirements were level fifty or one hundred. Azusa checked her own level; twenty-five. "That's quite far away…" However, the prizes were very enticing. Entering would guarantee a consolation prize of a random piece of equipment. Fourth gave a piece of equipment where the winner could choose the brand and type. Third had a VR system. Second gave an egg. First was a 'unique item'.

"The unique item is going to be a special class to those who come in first place. This class id not the same as any currently existing unique class." A list of the current unique classes was displayed beneath; Aegyl, Black Swordsman, Blood Bather, Combo Master, Dragon Master, The Flash, Ice caster, Pirate, Shinigami, Steam Punk. The list carried on but Azusa's trail of thought was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Excuse me," said a young voice and Ui entered the room. "Good morning, Azusa."

"Oh, morning Ui." The ponytailed girl quickly closed the browser, only to reveal that the patch had finished updating.

"Are you going to be playing again today?"

"Um…"

"It's okay, can I watch?"

"Oh, sure. Won't it be boring though?"

Ui smiled in response. "I'm going to get the game at some point, when I get a laptop, but I would like an idea of how to play before I start."

As the game flicked on, Azu-nyan yawned on the screen, stretching herself out.

"Well, the game introduction is really good. It goes through all the steps to start out. First you create your avatar-"

"Why do you have cat ears?"

"…"

The avatar stabbed her lance into the ground. "Because someone gave me a stupid name!"

Ui, "It's your nick name though."

Azusa, "Huh?" The small girl by her computer hadn't said anything. "Yeah, I chose Azu-nyan because I couldn't think of anything else. And the guide that helped me gave me cat ears." Suddenly, Azusa twisted round and grabbed onto her friend's shoulders. "We need to think up of a good name for you before you start playing!"

"Um… Sure." Before Ui could think through what just happened, Azusa kept on explaining the game from the top.

* * *

><p>"Akira-chan, Akira-chan!" shouted Yui, barging into the guitarist's room. "Help me~"<p>

"Don't barge into other peoples rooms like that without knocking!" The spikey haired girl sighed. "What do you want?"

"Can you help me with my assignments?" she asked hopefully. "It's really hard."

"Then pay attention in lectures, I'm busy." Yui glanced over her shoulder to see Illusia Online playing on her laptop.

"I'll grab mine too!" She darted out of the room.

"What about your assignment!?"

* * *

><p>"This is the MMO world. I chose the PrideShame emotion and we start on this mountain."

Azu-nyan shivered in the cold as her master kept explaining every insignificant detail. Sadly, the last time she logged out was on the side of said mountain. Having gotten lost, she wondered why those with pride or shame isolated themselves in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly, an icicle spear struck her in the side, the cold spreading through her with a burning chill.

"Must have been a pierce attack," she thought, noticing how little her armour protected her. Instinctively, she faced her enemy, a standard ice elemental in human form. It cast another ice spear, ready for throwing.

"Ah!" Azusa cried out, "I'm being attacked!"

"You finally noticed," the avatar muttered and darted forwards on command, casually avoiding the next thrown spear and countering with her weapon. "Sunder!" Even though it was a lance she used, the pole arm was swung overhead to crush the enemy.

"Sugoi!" said Ui. "One hit."

"Yeah, my Sunder skill is really powerful!"

The avatar scuffed her foot in the snow. "Come one, I'm bored. Let me off this mountain or get me to the nearest village."

"Azusa, your avatar seems impatient," Ui pointed out. The girl leaned in close to the screen, watching the avatar's every reaction.

"Huh? How can you tell?" asked Azusa.

Azu-nyan paused and looked up, pondering on this second person. "What?"

* * *

><p>"Let's play!" Yui sat onto Akira's bed, turning on the game. However, Akira slammed the lid shut.<p>

"Do your work."

"But you're playing, Akira-chan."

"That's because I've finished all my assignments."

"But I can't work if you're playing in front of me."

"Then go back to your room!"

"I need some help." She pointed at some question she had been assigned. "Please?"

Akira sighed. "Ugh, fine. But you better do your work, you hear me?"

"Yes ma'am!"

* * *

><p>Azu-nyan was really curious about this second person. Trekking through the snow and ice monsters was tiring but Ui, she had overheard the name, could tell what she was saying. One time, she even asked a question out loud.<p>

"How many monsters are there?"

"Four of them."

Of course, Azusa was surprised at Ui's random outburst but she covered herself by pointing at one hidden behind a rock.

A while later, Azu-nyan stumbled upon a city in the frozen mountains.

"What the hell!" shouted Azu-nyan. Some avatars looked in her direction. "Ugh… Let me off this place." It was the beginning city for those who chose Pride/Shame.

"They put a lot of detail in the game, don't they?" Ui was admiring the frozen structures beside the wooden homes. Far off in the distance was a stone castle and gargoyle-like creatures flew in circles by the towers.

"There are shops and inn in most towns. There are loads of quests too. Maybe I should do one?"

"You know," shouted Azu-nyan, "we could just buy a teleport crystal and get out of here."

Ui relayed the information to Azusa.

"Oh yeah! Wait, how did you know that?"

"Um… Yui told me the other day I think."

Azu-nyan considered what had happened. "So can she hear me?"

* * *

><p>"And what about this bit?" asked Yui, kicking her legs in the air.<p>

"I can't do all of it for you," Akira sighed, wishing she were playing her game. Rosalie was about to level up. "Are you nearly done yet?"

"Well I have this essay… Can I read yours?"

"No!"

* * *

><p>"Oh good, wolves." There was howling in the distance and Azusa's speakers portrayed the savageness vividly. The sound of paws on snow scuffled towards them, getting louder and louder until the black hounds appeared into view, eight of them. "This will be a fun quest." Azu-nyan's voice dripped with sarcasm, much like the saliva that dribbled from the wolves' mouths. They quickly formed a circle around the Fighter, cutting off any means of escape.<p>

They took the first strike, attacking from behind. Azusa, watching from above, clicked on a skill.

"Whirling blow!" Grabbing her lance in both hands, she swung it full circle, fending off her attackers. They backed off but there was an opening and she took it, bringing the weapon over her head. "Sunder!" One hit KO on one of the enemies and stunning three others; she lagged a moment after the attack.

"Watch out!" cried out Ui. Four wolves attacked from behind, enraged by the death of their friend. They clung to the Fighter like hyenas on flesh, clawing and biting her armour. It took another Whirling Blow to shake them off but the stunned wolves had recovered and they regrouped, encircling her.

"I really don't have many skills…" Sixty per cent health and sixty per cent mana; Azu-nyan wondered whether she was going to make it. She decided to take initiative, suddenly lunging at one of them, trying to break out the circle.

The wolf easily dodged and the rest saw the opening, attacking from behind again.

"Whirling blow!" Pivoting quickly on one foot, the lance arced round once again and struck most of them. Going on the offensive, the lance was raised over her head. "And Sunder!"

Again, the remaining wolves hit her weak spots and she just had enough mana for another Whirling Blow. Azu-nyan was feeling out of breath though; she watched the mist formed from her mouth float into the chill air.

"You've almost levelled up, keep going!"

Azusa was surprised at Ui's sudden outburst. "Y-yeah." With a few clicks, she sent Azu-nyan after the one with the lowest health, hoping for the health and mana bonus on levelling up. As the Fighter was taking damage, she lunged heavily into a wolf. On cue, the words 'Level Up!' flashed across the screen as the enemy exploded into a thousand shards.

Revitalised, Azu-nyan twisted round with full strength and spirit, forcing the opponent back. Before they could circle again, she charged.

"Sunder!"

* * *

><p>"Hey Akira-chan?"<p>

"What's up?"

"What's being a Ravager like?"

She paused, wanting to scold the guitarist to do her essay. However, she did seem to be working quite well for a long time. Just in case, she peeked over to see how far the girl had got on with her essay. "You've almost finished, good job."

"It's because you're here, Akira-chan." The black haired girl sighed and waited for the other to continue her work. Instead, pleading, puppy-dog eyes beamed at her.

She sighed. "What?"

"What's being a Ravager like?" she repeated. "I thought you'd be a Fighter, like Azu-nyan is. Though I can't imagine my Azu-nyan with a weapon."

"I can't imagine you as a Ninja."

"Eh? I can totally be a Ninja! Nin-nin-nin-nin!"

"What? Where did that come from?" Akira sighed. She would never understand the girl. _Better get this over with_, she thought. "Well you need to be a Fighter to become a Ravager."

"But you're a Mage too, and that's weird."

"Says you…" she replied quietly. "Well Mages are really good with other classes. That's what the guides say anyway. And the Fighters and Mage unlocks the Ravagers who are really good in groups, de-buffing the enemy and stuff. Wait, let me read the description." She flicked on her computer, finding the guide she was using.

"Ravagers support the team by debilitating the enemy, hindering them so the others have an easier time of defeating the enemy making them valuable against bosses. They have no weapon preference making them useful for anyone regardless of previous skills. Ravagers are also fast to help apply de-buffs quickly and the extra speed works well with a hit-and-run strategy."

Yui blinked rapidly.

"Oh whatever, get back to your work."

* * *

><p>"You're really getting into it, Ui." After the close shave with the wolves, Azu-nyan finally relaxed by sitting in the snow.<p>

"I didn't want you to die, that's all," she replied with a smile.

"I'm going to the bathroom for a moment, I'll be right back." Azusa left the room, leaving Ui with the computer. As soon as the door clicked shut, Azu-nyan stared upwards at Ui.

"Oi," she shouted, ignoring any passers-by in game that would hear her, "can you hear me?"

Ui shook her head, taking up the microphone. "I can't hear you."

"What?" Confused, the avatar stabbed her lance into the ground in frustration. "You obviously can!"

"I can lip read."

There was a pause. "Oh… That explains a lot."

Ui smiled. "Hehe. But I didn't know you could talk, you really surprised me. And you can hear me."

"Yeah, we can listen in if you have a microphone. I'd be able to see you if you had a camera though that isn't really necessary."

Ui nodded, then realised her actions couldn't be seen. "It's really weird though. You're in a game, it's like you're alive, why is that?"

"I dunno; I don't do philosophy." Ui thought back to all the games she had played in the past trying to remember if she caught any of them trying to talk to her. However, Azu-nyan interrupted her trail of thought. "So are you going to play or what?"

"No- no, this isn't my game."

"Well, you'd probably be a better player than Azusa."

"R-really? What makes you say that?"

"Well you understand me a lot better- being able to hear me helps." Azu-nyan picked up her Lance again and gave it a few swings. "She doesn't actually know how to play; I do most of the skills, not her, and when she does, she spams the same skills until I'm out of mp. At least I'm covered by potions but still…"

"But Azusa isn't a serious gamer." How her best friend was roped into playing, she didn't know; probably her sister. "Whenever I see her playing, she is also working at the same time."

Azu-nyan wasn't really listening. "Her skill allocation is all wrong too. I have three attacking skills. Only three! And all she does is Sunder that's so over powered, it's wasting mp."

"I don't really understand the game mechanics but would you like me to tell her these things?"

"Really?" The Fighter thought about it. "Nah, I don't think I'm supposed to be able to talk to you people. Tell her to get the Lancer class. It's boring with Sunder, Pierce, and Whirling Blow."

On cue, the door opened and Azusa returned. "Sorry for the wait."

"It's okay. I was just talking…" Ui paused. How does one say they were talking to a game? "Thinking about your skill set up." Azu-nyan put up the skill tree onto the screen to show them.

* * *

><p>"I'm finished!" Yui announced.<p>

"Really now…" Akira replied sarcastically, "It's only been a few hours and- Oh, you have." She began flicking through the work, checking whether she was being tricked. However, the essay was finished and there were no doodles. "Well done. Have you proof read it yet?"

"I was hoping you'd help me, Akira-chan!"

"You know what, I'm beat. Let's just play."

"Eh, but you said you'd help me…"

Akira sighed again. "Fine." _I'm only going to proof read it, shouldn't take too long…_

* * *

><p>One hour later…<p>

"Damnit, what the hell is wrong with your grammar?" The essay was in ruin. The moment Akira took her pen to the paper, it was instantly bombarded with red ink as mistakes were circled, scribbled out and rewritten.

"Hehe, Ui says my writing is always interesting."

"That wasn't a compliment!"

Eventually though, Akira put her pen down. "Finished…"

"Thank you Akira!"

"Now go rewrite it all out."

"Eh?"

Akira pointed at the essay that was more red ink than black. "You can't hand that in! Go fix all those mistakes, now!"

"Y-yes ma'am!"

* * *

><p>"Lancer Class; front line fighters that wield pole arms instead of swords for the extra range. The mix between the Fighter class and the Guard class allows them to be both offensive and defensive. They can keep enemies at a distance with their weapon speciality behind the safety of a shield or forgo defending and take the momentum of the battle with their charging attacks making them very useful in a team."<p>

Azusa thought about it. "Well I am using a Lance."

"Oi, I'm using the lance, not you," shouted Azu-nyan.

Azusa, "But going Lancer means going Guard."

Ui, "It's only for a few levels."

Azusa, "Ten is not a few levels…"

Ui, "But the only other classes you've unlocked now are Swordsman and Barbarian."

Azu-nyan, "And I do not want to be a Barbarian."

Azusa, "I guess you're right."

Ui smiled; glad to have helped the Avatar.

* * *

><p>"So what's a Ninja like?" Akira asked whilst waiting for the patch update on the game.<p>

"It's fun!" Yui also had the laptop booting the game.

"Really? How so?"

"Because I can become invisible!" Suddenly, Yui dived beneath the duvet and poked her head out. "Heehee…"

"You look more like a ghost at the moment…" The white bed sheets were wrapped loosely around her, hiding most of her body. "Never mind, I'll just read the description."

"Ooh, let me see!"

"You're the Ninja, shouldn't you already know?"

"…Nope…"

With a sigh, Akira pulled out her guide again.

"Ninjas are the fastest class and improves on the Thief's assets, improving Stealth and speed. Whilst a very frail class, they gain many movement techniques used for evasion to avoid attacks. They gain access to quick casting elemental magic used for combos and flourishes, useful for distractions and striking at elemental weaknesses in the enemy. They require little support and are one of the best solo classes."

"What does solo mean?" asked Yui.

"When you play on your own."

"Eh, I don't want to be on my own."

"Well you don't have to."

"Oh, it's finished!" Yui pointed at the screen as the patch update finished.

"Hey wait, what's that?" Akira noticed the tournament advertisement. "That looks interesting."

"What, what?"

Akira skim read the page, noticing the prizes especially.

"Oh wow, VR systems. And only for third place."

"What's a VR system?"

"It stands for 'Virtual Reality.' It's a special device that immerses you into a computer generated world where you are the character."

"Sugoi! So if I got one of those, I'll be Giitar?"

"Yeah. That would be pretty cool being an actual Ninja. I'd be a Ravager too."

"But where would Giitar go?"

"Pardon?"

"If I'm the Ninja, then who is Giitar?"

"Well I'd guess you'd be Giitar."

"But if I'm Giitar then who is me?"

Akira paused, wondering whether to shout at her for being too philosophical or to just give up. The effort of the day was getting to her. "Yui, please stop…"

* * *

><p>*Author's notes (th feb)

Ui appears! She can lip read? Well she did learn to be a ventriloquist, and she's just kinda awesome that way. Not sure if she's out of character, I guess she kind of is. I've read a lot of fan fictions since I've seen the anime, though that's a lame excuse. *Considers re-watching entire anime and movie again… with the manga series and the anthology, even though I'm supposed to be revising…*

Sorry for the filler this chapter and last chapter. At least I have a plot point soon, the tournament!

And, there's a deleted scene next 'chapter'. You'll see what I mean when it appears. This deleted scene is something I'm really proud of- I think it's really good (and fluffy). What a deleted scene is will be explained at the start of said deleted scene.

Also, VR systems will make their debut in chapter 11!

*/

* * *

><p>*Review responses

I do this every three reviews, and it's finally happened! (Yay, more random stuff that has nothing to do with the story at all!)

Here we go.

* * *

><p>Guest chapter 2 . Feb 13<p>

Very interesting story so far. I had a feeling Mio would pick the archer as soon as I read about it. Giving the avatars a personality is also really cool and it will be interesting to see how it works when they get the VR gear. Can't wait for your next update :D

I've spent a lot of time thinking about it and I'm not going to divulge any details here :P. As mentioned previously in chapter 9, chapter 11 will involve a VR system (it also said don't get your hopes up…) When the VR systems do get properly implemented, it will get more serious. *Evil glint in eye*

* * *

><p>shadowssj12 chapter 5 . Mar 2<p>

I love this story. But chapter 5 LoL! It was smart for yui to log out. I do hope they get the new gear soon. But please update soon!

Shadowssj12 out!

I hope you enjoyed that fight chapter J I enjoyed writing it! Usually, I don't plan fight scenes and this is a case of that- I go with the flow of the battle. With the gear, I'm not going to go into that much detail until the VR systems where the characters can actually see for themselves. And there will be special equipment that will pop up every now and then- because rare items are awesome! (And then there were legendries.)

* * *

><p>GearUnlocked chapter 1 . Apr 13<p>

Good job on keeping the pace with both of your K-On! stories. Liking this story a lot so far and I honestly don't know how long I can't wait until the next chapter, but then again I have no choice. Keep up the nice job.

Well, you didn't have to wait long! :D Keeping up with both stories wasn't really a good idea since this one is trying to speed ahead whilst the other is being dragged through the mud so I might stop double updating. Only time will tell.

* * *

><p>Thank you all for reviewing! It encourages me to carry on and emphasises that people DO read this so I can't be careless and ramble on too much.<p>

Hah, *looks at author's notes* I'll never get rid of those.

*/

* * *

><p>"Elizabeth!" shouted Giitar, bursting into the bar like a lost child.<p>

"W-What is it?" The Archer's face was filled with concern. "Are you okay?"

"I haven't seen you, or anyone, all day!" The Ninja fell into her arms, to her surprise.

"It's okay, I haven't seen anyone lately." The waiter shot her a glance.

"Yui didn't turn on her laptop until late and I thought everyone was having fun without me."

"Right… Well Mio's been working all day so I've just been relaxing on my own." She mouthed 'sorry' to the waiter.

"So I haven't missed anything?"

"Since when were you so clingy?"

The door kicked open. "I'm back, bitches!"

"Tainaka, the door has a knob to open it."

"And look at what I found!" She slammed a guide onto the table. "We can learn how to play with this!"

The other two looked at the cover. "How to play the guitar."

"I found it in the trash!" the Mage announced.

"And pray tell what were you doing in the trash?" There was a sarcastic tone in the Archer's voice.

"It was a quest."

"Eh?" Giitar cut in, "that means you were playing today!"

"Yeah, aren't you supposed to be doing work?" Elizabeth scolded.

"Nu-uh, not me, Ritsu was supposed to be-"

"Why didn't you tell her to do her work then!"

"Well I'm a higher level than you now!"

"That's not the point!" The Archer paused. "What level are you now?"

"Twenty seven!"

"No fair!"

"Beat twenty eight!" Azu-nyan appeared, the door once again kicked open.

"Stop kicking my door!"

"Aw," Giitar pouted. "I'm the lowest level here… Azu-nyan, how did you grow up three levels in one day?"

"Because I'm awesome." She called the waiter over. "A Sidecar please."

"So anyway, back to what I found." Tainaka waved the book in front of everyone's faces.

"I see a problem," announced Elizabeth. "Tainaka; Ritsu plays drums."

The Mage paused. "I know that. I got it for you guys."

"That was a suspiciously long pause."

The 'one-who-forgot-she-was-playing-drums' ignored her comrades and pushed the book towards Giitar. "Take out your guitar and start playing."

* * *

><p>"Giitar, you've got your fingers in the right place but it's not very smooth." Elizabeth was reading out of the guidebook. "Make sure your arm moves slowly."<p>

"Yeah, and curl your left hand a bit more," Tainaka threw in. "Some of the sounds are off."

"Oh, it says to hold the pick gently between your fingers, not too tightly."

"And don't drop the pick; you're almost there. Straighten your back a bit too."

"Your left wrist has gone floppy again. Try moving your wrist forwards."

"I think you've got one chord down. Now for the next."

"I can't do it." Giitar handed the guitar to Tainaka. "My brain hurts." She collapsed onto the floor in silence. They all waited for her and the moment when someone was about to see whether she was alive, the Ninja wriggled like a worm out of the bar.

"Well that went well." The Archer put the book onto the table. "Hey Azu-nyan, why don't you give it a try? You're the other guitarist."

"After watching that performance? No thanks." The Fighter sighed. "We don't need to learn how to play anyway so what's the point?"

"It's interesting," replied the Mage. They looked at her as she pulled the guitar strap over her shoulder.

"Don't tell me you know how to play…" Azu-nyan got ready to cover her ears.

"I read that book from start to finish, I can't be that bad." Recalling all the advice from the guide, she readied her fingers and played a single chord.

"Oh." The Archer was surprised. "Not bad, that was an E."

"Here's the next one." An F chord rang out. "I'm getting the hang of this."

Elizabeth applauded the results and after a while of experimenting, she flicked to a certain page of the guide book. "Try playing this."

The Mage stared at the book and all she saw were squibles and blotches. "Does anyone know how to read sheet music?"

"Nope," Elizabeth replied.

"Nope," Azu-nyan replied.

"Well, there goes that idea." She placed the guitar on a stand. "Hey, has anyone seen our Prince?"

"No, why?" The Archer thought for a moment. "Didn't they say that one of them was going home for the weekend?"

The Mage put a fist into a palm. "Oh yeah, that was Mugi. Well, I'm off."

"Hey, don't leave that guitar here," the Archer began but the Mage shrugged her off.

"It's not my guitar, it's Giitar's. Return it to her when you get the chance."

"Geez," Elizabeth sighed as the Mage left the bar. She was about to ask Azu-nyan if she'd take the guitar back to its owner but the Fighter had disappeared as well. "Great, they love to disappear like that, don't they?" She stared at the guidebook still in her hands, and then towards the guitar. "Well, can't hurt to try."

* * *

><p>*Author's Notes

The 'advice' on how to play the guitar is taken from K-On! Season 2, episode 3, if you recognised their banter (soon after the opening song) where drummer Ritsu doesn't want to play the drums any more.

*/


	11. DS: So you want to see some fluff, neh?

DS "So you want to see some fluff, neh?"

* * *

><p>*Author's notes

DS stands for 'Deleted Scene.' What I mean by this is that the following scene is either:

1. Too short to be a real chapter

2. Extremely irrelevant

3. It didn't actually happen

So effectively this is a one shot and filler.

This DS is an example of numbers one, two and three. Well, maybe not two but if three is the case then two is by default also the case (usually).

*/

* * *

><p>It was a normal day. Mio had booted up her computer to do some work so Elizabeth had the privilege of sleeping in. That morning, the waiter stayed behind the counter of his bar, preparing a surprise breakfast for the Archer. After checking the Internet connection, he found the others were online but not playing. Presumably, the humans were hard at work and concentrating on their education.<p>

It seemed today would be a peaceful day.

On that thought, the door of the bar flung open with a cracking of wood and sending splinters into the air. With a gust of wind, a certain Ninja soared onto the table and landed in a crouching position. Dramatically, as she sprang to her feet, her emerald cloak was sent fluttering off screen as she posed to the camera.

"So you want to see some fluff, neh?" she shouted to the audience. A breeze blew from the open doorway and lifted up her spiralling skirt, revealing white and red polka dots. The waiter turned away, suddenly interested in the bottles of wine behind him and hiding his red-faced blush.

"What is going on?" asked Elizabeth, opening up her door with a teary eyed face having just woken up.

"Elizabeth…" whispered Giitar in the softest voice she could muster as though she was trying not to scare a mouse. She dropped off the table towards the raven-haired girl. Then, the Ninja pulled the girl close into a tight embrace, pressing their lips together.

The Archer closed her eyes for a brief second, her dazed and sleepy state forgetting-

"What the-" Elizabeth quickly pulled away. "No!" She slammed the door, retreating into her room. "What the hell are you doing?"

Giitar winked through the keyhole of the door. "Fan service," she replied. With a twirl, her skirt lifting higher than before, she smiled. "Neh?"

…

…

…


	12. 11: VR First timer

After a long time of not being here, I'm back! Albeit sporadically. Would give an update of my life but just read my thoughts about how my exams went on my page. This chapter was actually written before my exams, but is only coming to light now!

No one has commented on the deleted scene. *Makes a weird, incomprehensible face…* No news is good news, right?

Anyway, Mugi time!

* * *

><p>*Disclaimers

I do not own any of the following:

Sword Art Online

A mountain

Candyland

Block breaker

Tennis

MLP

Cooking Mama

ALfheim Online

And of course K-On!

Mugi owns most of those though...

*/

I wonder what kind of chapter this is going to be like?

* * *

><p>In the very early hours of the morning, a black limousine could be seen driving down quiet roads of the small town. It headed towards the back, countryside area where there were seldom any people. Farms could be seen from behind the tinted glass of the vehicle as a certain blonde patiently waited to be driven to her destination. There was little on her mind- she was just visiting home for the weekend. After, she would be going back to university, back to her studies, back to her friends.<p>

After a while, another glance out the window told her she had arrived. The limousine drove up the driveway of the villa; the sound of the wheels on loose gravel announced their arrival. They slowed to a stop just outside the front doors of the house and a young maid that had been waiting opened the door.

"Welcome home, Mugi-sama." The formal welcome felt awkward on the maid's tongue but she endured it.

"Arigatou, Saito-san," the blonde replied. The driver stepped out, a wizened, old butler bowed before starting with the luggage.

The maid began leading her master towards the house, opening the grand doors of the building. "Did you have a nice trip, Mugi-sama?"

"It was very pleasant."

"Mugi-sama," the Butler began, "where shall I place your luggage?"

"To my room, please."

"Certainly. Where should I take you computer?"

Mugi nodded. "To my room please, Saito-san."

The maid watched her father carry a suitcase and a computer up the spiral staircase. When he disappeared from sight, Mugi turned towards the maid.

"Sumire-chan!" she cried out.

"Onee-chan!" she replied.

* * *

><p>Mugi jumped onto her canopy bed, ignoring the suitcase for the moment that waited to be unpacked. Her sister sat beside her, asking questions about her second year of university. The responses were quick but detailed. There were not many changes compared to last year. The Light Music Club was the same as usual with the group's usual antics. But a new year meant new people, the first years. There was a larger variety of commoners that Mugi did not anticipate as she described the many different backgrounds of the new people she had met.<p>

"It's wonderful, there are so many things I have to learn!"

Sumire smiled as her sister beamed up towards the ceiling, her eyes glistening with excitement. "It sounds lovely."

Mugi rolled over, her sapphire eyes matching her sisters. "How's your drumming going? You're the oldest in the music club now."

The younger sibling answered joyfully, mentioning the hard work being the club president and a sempai. "It's… really weird…"

"Being a sempai?"

She nodded. "I don't know how to play very well, and the new members don't know how to play either. Nao-chan helps a lot since she knows all the music theory but I have been learning too, just so I can help the others."

"Sugoi!" Mugi cried, hugging her sister suddenly. "Sumire, you're growing up! I'm so proud of you."

Her face blushed deeply. "So have you, Onee-chan. You really aren't having any financial help from home, have you."

Mugi let go and nodded avidly. "I've taken a lot of part time jobs. Afterschool Tea Time is really popular now." The Kotobuki stretched out and stood up, walking to the glass doors in her room to the balcony. With both arms, she drew the sliding glass back, letting a gust of fresh air into the room. Sumire followed close behind Mugi who went to sit on the balcony. The sun had finally risen; there were still a few hours until lunchtime.

"How's Sawako been lately?" asked Mugi, shielding her eyes from the glare of the sun.

Images of Sawako's attempts to dress up the Fresh Leaf Girls appeared in her head. "She's been lively, as usual," Sumire replied. A new first year had a personality similar to Azusa's had joined though, saving them several times. Unlike Azusa though, she was as lazy as Jun wasn't always relaible. "Because Nao and I don't play the guitar, Sawako-sensei has been teaching the first years how to play. Though, it's quite a different experience compared to Azusa-sempai."

Mugi smiled at the thought of Death Devil Sawako. "It must be really fun."

"It's… interesting."

The wind was quiet. A peaceful atmosphere settled on the Kotobuki residence. "Sumire-chan."

"Yes Onee-chan?"

"I heard you were helping dad with his work."

"I have."

"What have you been helping him with?"

Sumire smiled. "Can I show you?"

* * *

><p>Sumire led her sister back inside and down the spiral staircase. They were headed towards the computer room. However, when Mugi attempted to enter the room she was used to, Sumire stopped her.<p>

"We're using a different room this time." They continued until Mugi recognised the guest bedrooms. They went into the very last one to her surprise.

"Why are we going into a guest bedroom?" she asked as the lights were switched on, illuminating the bland cream walls. For some reason, the bedroom had no windows at all. In the room there were three beds with a computer on a table by each. However, what caught her eye were the helmets on each pillow.

"These are AmuSpheres, Onee-chan."

Curious, she picked it up and examined it. Close up, it looked more like a visor that covered the eyes. It had a metal frame that would encircle the head, though at the moment it would have fallen onto Mugi's shoulders. She held it above her head like a halo and it shone silver in the gentle light.

"It's pretty."

Sumire took a hold of the visor, moving the cable that was attached to it to the side. "Would you like to try it on?"

"Sure!" Mugi lowered her head into a bow, allowing her sister to reach her head. At the press of a button, the AmuSphere whirred and wrapped itself around her head until it was secure. At first it was uncomfortable but her new tinted vision distracted her.

"How do I look?" A mirror in the room showed her appearance. "I look like an anime hero!"

"You do." An anime style sweat drop appeared over Sumire's head as her sister pretended to be shooting a laser gun, making 'pew-pew' noises. "So, shall we try using it?"

"Eh? How do I use it?"

"Um… Lie down in the bed and get comfortable." Mugi complied, curious at what was about to happen.

"Now, you don't have to close your eyes but it's better if you do for the first time. Then, when you're ready, say 'Link Start!'"

Mugi inhaled deeply. Suddenly, she felt nervous, laying there and looking at the ceiling through tinted glass. She could feel the machine around her head beginning to whir into life. "Sumire…" However, when she looked over, her sister was already preparing the visor over her head.

"Relax, Onee-chan. I'll be right next to you, so don't worry."

Mugi nodded and looked at the ceiling. Again, she inhaled deeply. Finally, she said the two words.

"Link Start!"

* * *

><p>*Author's notes

It's Sumire! It's Sumire-chan!

Yes, it is. For those who don't know her, read the manga. That's all you're getting from me.

Because the Kotobuki family is rich, the family relationships are fairly complicated; at least in this story.

In an attempt to cut down on Author's notes, I will try and stop inserting two sets at the start and end of the chapter… Starting next time :P Of course, the key word here is 'Try'.

*/

* * *

><p>The AmuSphere booted up, humming to life. Mugi's eyes were open but they felt heavy, like they were being disconnected from her. Multi-coloured lights flashed past her as the ceiling warped out of sight.<p>

She couldn't move. Her body didn't respond. She felt nothing.

And then feeling returned to her arms and legs. The lights had stopped moving and a white ceiling was above her. She was still lying down and peaceful music met her ears, the type of acoustic lobby music whilst waiting in line for something. She felt uncertain. Could she move yet? What happened? Then she noticed that her visor had disappeared. Her first instinct was the place a hand over her face, just to make sure.

"It's gone." Her voice sounded different and she felt confused, suddenly deciding to get up. Propping herself up with an arm, she was in a bed-

"What?" The room was gone. The walls had disappeared. The sparse floor continued on forever into the distance, merging with the blank ceiling above. Or was that the sky?

A faint fizzing noise sounded and her head snapped towards it in a jolt. A bed was materialising out of thin air. However, the person that was appearing with it was what her attention was focused on. "Sumire!" she called out, stepping out of the bed towards her sister.

Sumire barely had enough time to get up before being knocked back into bed. "Onee-chan?"

"What's going on? Where am I?"

"Calm down, Onee-chan." Sumire stroked her sister's hair.

It took a while before Mugi quietened.

"I'm sorry, Onee-chan. I thought you knew what the Amusphere was." Sumire bowed, remembering her teachings as a maid. "I should have told you before hand."

"It's okay." Mugi smiled contently. "It was just a bit of a shock. I was just really surprised." She looked around again, feeling safe in the knowledge her sister was by her side. "So this is the VR world? This is what dad has been working on?" However, the whole world was white at the moment, and it scared her a little.

"Virtual Reality." Sumire got up and swiped an arm down. Suddenly, a list appeared in front of them. She quickly picked one. "Beach setting."

The world started to dematerialise and rematerialize, squares folding over and replaced with colour as the sky flipped from white to blue and the floor from sparse to sand.

"Sugoi!" Instantly, she could feel the warmth of the summer heat on her face. The sea was spread open before her and she could see the naked sun's shining light highlighting every ripple on the ocean's surface. The white froth on the rim of each wave of water washed onto the yellow beach, darkening the sand when the wave retreated back into the sea. She could feel the sea breeze blowing in; refreshingly cool and blowing back her hair. On instinct, she stuck her tongue out and could taste the salty tang in the air.

She stepped forwards, feeling the sand crumble slightly beneath her feet. "It's beautiful."

Sumire smiled. "It's amazing, isn't it?" After sorting through some lists, Sumire summoned up a parasol and chairs.

"Yeah…" There was a soft twinkle in her eyes as she tried to comprehend it all. "It feels so real." Sumire nodded in agreement. "Is this, is this what you were helping dad with?"

"A little. I helped with some ideas. There's a house lobby, gardens lobby, meadows, mountains. There are lots of different environments."

"R-really?"

"Yes. If you swipe your arm down, it will come up with a list." The maid began teaching her master how to use the system's lobby area. In a flash, they were no longer standing next to beach chairs but beside giant block chairs carved from ice surrounded by snow-topped mountains. Their breaths created mists in front of their faces and a slight chill bit at their skin. However, it wasn't an uncomfortable cold somehow. It was pleasant. They could make snowballs with their bare hands and not get frostbite. Mugi was having fun experimenting with this new system, like a child playing with a new toy. Blocks of ice were summoned to build an igloo. There were many pre-set objects from ice slides to skis. They weren't limited to that environment as the beach chairs appeared again.

The next lobby style was candy land, instantly reminding Mugi of Yui. Roads of red cherry strips, trees of tropical, toffee treats. The colourful madness of skittle rainbows enlightened by the sherbet lemon sun stuck in the blue, blue sky. It was like a dream pulled straight out of Yui's head.

"Cotton candy clouds!" They rained chocolate milkshake over the spongy cake of the earth, sprouting aromatic flowers that dripped with delicious honey.

As Mugi began experimenting with the system, she posed a question to her sister. "What else is there?"

"I helped test out some games."

"Really? Like MMO Illusia?"

"No, just normal ones. Because of the SAO incident a few years ago, I think he's trying to avoid that. Do you want to try a game?"

Mugi nodded. "Sure."

Sumire pointed at the list, pointing out the games section. "The place we're currently in is the lobby area where we can meet up."

Mugi nodded in response, thoroughly deciding on a game. "How about this one?"

"Oh, that's a good game. I really liked that one."

"Oh, if you've played it already then we should choose a different one."

"Oh no, I helped test all the games on there. Sorry."

"Okay. If that's the case then let's go with this one then."

She clicked on the name: Block Breaker Tennis.

* * *

><p>There was an opening scene, a selection of cute outfits and a large selection of difficulties. Sumire suggested the simple grassy stage, rather than the hardest volcano stage.<p>

"What's the difference?" asked Mugi, inquisitive.

"The ground surface is different, the blocks are harder to hit and some hide behind unbreakable blocks. You have to hit them in a certain order. And you have to dodged the meteors and jump over lava."

"Oh, that sounds fun!"

Sumire sweat-dropped once again. Thankfully, she hadn't seen the space stage. Thankfully, they chose the grassy stage.

* * *

><p>Mugi concentrated. It had been a while since she had played tennis but some competitive feeling started to bubble inside her. There was a feeling of pride too since her sister was next to her and she didn't want to let her down. A doubles game against several walls of blocks; they had to work together to over come the walls that would be slowly pushed their way.<p>

Sumire took the top right of the court whilst Mugi took the opening serve. The keyboardist looked up, her eyes focused on her target. She tested the tennis ball, bouncing it several times before finally lifting it into the air. For a moment, it hovered in place. And then…

"Hah!" Mugi swung her entire arm over, a connecting smack sounded as the tennis ball shot over the net and into the first block. It pinged back towards Sumire.

"Go!" She swung forehand, aiming the ball back where it came from. Three pings sounded as the ball ricocheted several times in the hole Mugi just made.

"Sugoi!" she cried out, as the shot was perfectly set up for the next forehand. She took it easy, not wanting to mess up. It was a weak reply, but Sumire was ready in position, ready to receive the rebound. Again, another perfect play.

"Smash it!" Sumire shouted, anticipating the next shot as the ball lobbed towards her sister.

Mugi stepped back; it was arriving in an arced path. She paused, almost hesitant. She knew what a smash was but she had never done it before. But something told her to move. On instinct, her feet shifted into position and she leaned into her swing. Her arm was moving before she knew it and the racket connected with a deafening-

SMASH!

The tennis ball exploded forwards, like a cannon shot. It passed Sumire, her hair fluttering in the gust created from the speed of the shot. The ball cut through several blocks on impact, shattering them into a thousand shards of light.

"Well done, Onee-chan." And Sumire played the same shot again, lobbing it to her sister.

The satisfying and deafening cracks as she smashed the ball into blocks; the adrenaline rush as the pair destroyed the walls that approached them.

Suddenly, Mugi saw a glowing block. Before she could ask, Sumire had broken it, causing the tennis ball to carry the same glow the block had.

"It's a slow motion ball!" When it came back over the net, it halved its speed, making it an easy shot for anyone. Without question, Mugi took the shot on her forehand, striking it as hard as she could.

The ball was still in slow motion and the second blonde took the opportunity. Before it passed over the net, she took a backhand to the ball as well.

"We both hit it?" cried out Mugi. The ball had caught fire, setting blocks ablaze and annihilating them into nothing. When it came back still flaming, the blonde on the service line panicked.

"Go for it, Onee-chan!" the younger encouraged in full support. She looked back, seeing the fire reflecting in her sister's eyes. And then, one last forearm, she stuck. The last shot carried over the net and hit the last block. In one last finale explosion, victory flashed before their eyes.

"We did it!" cried out Mugi, suddenly hugging her sibling. "We did it!"

* * *

><p>Back in the lobby area, the pair relaxed on a cruise ship. Sailing through the calm seas with the sun high above the cool waters, seagulls squawked overhead with the clouds as the two were reclining on beach chairs getting a tan in their bikinis.<p>

"That was so much fun," Mugi said out, wiping her head with a towel. It was soft and fluffy. "I was so surprised at the end when you hit the ball again."

Sumire nodded in agreement. "I just thought I could, and I did." She sighed deeply. "These games are a lot more fun with someone else."

"Yeah…" Mugi quickly thought back to her friends in college. "I have to invite everyone over some time."

Sumire smiled at the thought, remembering the last time they all met up. "I'd like to meet them again."

"What other games did you test out?"

"All of them."

Mugi gasped. "But this list is huge!"

"I played on some more than others." She leaned over, pressing some of the buttons. The list reordered themselves into different genres. "Like that one was really good."

There were a variety of different genres such as sports, first person shooters, strategy, and role-playing. Mugi noticed an MMO section; however the one game her sister was pointing at was in the tutorials/simulator section.

"Cooking Mama." Mugi poked it, initialising the game accidentally. The world turned, the scenery flipping over in small, square sized chunks and the two were placed into a box. In said box was the kitchen of Cooking Mama.

Sumire sighed, patting down the pink apron that had suddenly appeared. "Onee-chan."

"Sorry." Her sapphire eyes lingered on her surroundings. It was a dream kitchen. Several fridges that stood up to the ceiling, work surfaces of granite that sparkled under the lights above, there was nothing that Mugi could think of that she would want there. "Tea cups?" She opened a cupboard and found them instantly, quickly finding the ingredients for a quick cuppa.

"I was a taste tester for this game."

"Really?"

Sumire nodded. "They wanted this game as realistic as possible and to help teach players how to cook." She held up a recipe book. "You can pick a recipe out of this and Cooking Mama will appear to teach you."

"Sugoi!" Tea was ready and she poured some golden liquid from a Wedgwood teapot into some royal china. They both tasted it, smiling at the result. "It's so real…"

A message popped up in front of them, surprising Mugi.

"Mugi-sama, your father has returned."

* * *

><p>The two quickly logged out. Sumire was red in the face, worried that she was not there to greet the Head of the House's return. Mugi was surprisingly calm about it; it was her father that had summoned her home. A quick glance at the time told them it was lunch soon and the maid panicked further, remembering she was supposed to be preparing food.<p>

Hurrying on, they quickly paced towards the front hall. The doors were open, and Mr Kotobuki stood there in his suit, waiting for the two girls. His short black hair was gelled neatly and his posture was perfect. His face was emotionless but his black bush eyebrows almost made him look intimidating. "Good morning, Miss Tsumugi, Miss Sumire."

They both bowed formally. "Good morning Mr Kotobuki."

There was a short pause with an awkward silence. And then they burst out laughing. After a few moments, he sighed. "You're mother is away on business I'm afraid so it's just us this weekend." Mugi ran up to her father to give him a hug, her head resting on his shoulder. "You're growing up girl. Last time I saw you, I had to kneel," he teased.

She pouted. "Da~ad."

The two broke away suddenly as the butler appeared carrying the luggage into the house. He said nothing though and moved the suitcase up the stairs.

Sumire stifled a giggle as both the Kotobuki's made faces whilst the butler's back was turned. When he was out of sight, the Head of the House straightened up. "Sorry about that, Sumire. I think the Mrs is keeping tabs on me again."

The maid nodded. "I won't tell." She watched the Kotobuki's head towards the dining room as she contemplated the relationships in the house. "And he's supposed to be setting a good example on her…"

* * *

><p>Rather than the dining room, they sat outside under the afternoon sun. A soup bowl was placed in front of each of them on the outside table with bread already buttered.<p>

"Cream of Roasted Walnut," Sumire said with a bow without making eye contact as she left. As they both began the meal, after saying grace, they started catching up. The Head of the House was particularly interested in University and he constantly compared it to 'when I was your age.' Mugi was enjoying university life, as usual, and she began explaining the vast types of commoners there were. She mentioned Azusa was one of the new first years in the college. Afterschool Tea Time was back together again. On that topic, the father offered to help the band but was declined as it had been for the past five years. Every time Afterschool Tea Time was brought up, Mr Kotobuki would offer his help yet Mugi never gave in. He could remember the first time he heard of the club.

* * *

><p><em>"Oh, Afterschool Tea Time?" the Japanese man replied to her daughter as he was about to get ready for work. "How long have you been in the Light Music Club?"<em>

_"Since the start of the year dad," little Mugi answered, only a little shorter than her father but he often poked fun at his daughter._

_"Oh? I thought you were joining the choir, like your mum asked you to."_

_"They seemed like so much fun. I- I couldn't refuse."_

_"Well, as long as you're enjoying yourself and keeping up with your education. Don't tell your mother though," he smiled, cheekily._

_"No, I will tell mummy!"_

* * *

><p>"That was the first time you called her mummy."<p>

"That was a long time ago!" Mugi pouted, similar to how she did back then.

Her father laughed. "Well, she let you stay in the club, didn't she?"

"Yes. But then you kept sending all those tutoring adverts to them." She thought back to their first year in high school.

* * *

><p><em>The group were going to walk home from school together as usual.<em>

_"Hello!" someone was shouting out at the gates. "Free lessons! Free music lessons!" Mugi froze, recognising her piano teacher on sight._

_"Su-sugoi!" cried out Yui. "Just what I need!" She held Giitar closer to her back and started running._

_"H-hey!" Mio called out. "Isn't that at least suspicious?"_

_Yui stopped. "But I don't have any money after buying Giitar- this is the perfect opportunity."_

_"We should call a teacher."_

_Suddenly, Sawako appeared, heading towards the gate. The music teacher realised she was about to get chased off campus and ran away._

_On the way home, they met three people handing out fliers for music lessons but Mugi successfully diverted their attention to something else. It involved sweets usually, or random back alley streets._

_When Mugi arrived back home, she noticed an abnormal amount of mail. Sifting through it, most of them were fliers on music lessons. She asked her father about it._

_"Those idiots. They don't need to post fliers to this house!"_

_"So it was you!"_

_"Oh… woops."_

_The next day, when Mugi was asking her friends how their evenings were, each of them noticed the sudden number of advertisements in music._

_Mugi had shouted at her father that evening._

_"You parked a truck in front of their house with an advertisement on it ALL NIGHT?"_

* * *

><p>"That was your mums idea."<p>

"No it wasn't- I was there when you admitted it!"

They were both laughing again. "Ah. How are they all this year? University gets harder in the second year."

"Everyone's coping fine. Actually, Yui is doing better this year because of Azusa."

"She's the kitty, isn't she?"

Mugi giggled. "You're not allowed to call her that when she visits."

"Oh, I won't." There was an evil glint in his eye and Mugi scolded him.

"Da~ad."

They finished the starter and the main arrived soon after. Sumire, set down two plates of Atlas Fish, grilled on each side and completely deboned. She left just as quickly as she came, bowing all the time.

"Oh, this fish is from Finland."

"Yes, that's where your mother is at the moment." He stabbed into the fish, the crisp skin crunched slightly as the knife moved it out of the way to reveal the soft white flesh beneath. "Sumire cooked this you know."

"Really?" Mugi was surprised. She knew that her sister had been learning how to cook. However, she didn't know it was to this degree. "Sugoi, how can you tell?"

"She's been practising hard ever since she knew you were coming up."

"On that game?"

"Oh, so you've seen it then?"

Mugi explained what they were doing that morning, playing the VR games. He smiled, glad that his daughter had enjoyed them. "Sumire practiced that cooking game all week before you arrived, and in real life."

"So is this what you've been working on this year?"

Mr Kotobuki thought for a moment. "Well," he began. He talked about the VR gaming market when it first came out- there wasn't one except for VRMMOs. Seeing the opportunity, he took it. "The human body is a wonderful instrument though." He explained the nervous system, how the receptors work and all the functions of the body. "But the AmuSphere blocks it all out and sends messages to the brain instead."

"That's quite dangerous," Mugi replied. Her fish was finished. "Isn't the brain very delicate?"

"You hear lots of things; some people call it delicate because it's such a vital part of the human body. But in its own way, it's the most powerful tool we have. Yes, it is dangerous. Have you heard of the SAO incident?"

Mugi nodded. "That was…"

"Four years ago. It finished two years ago. Such a tragedy."

Mugi nodded. "Yeah…" She looked down at her empty plate.

"Come on cheer up. Sumire might get the wrong idea about what you thought of her cooking." She looked up; sapphire eyes met amethyst and both of them smiled.

The dessert course came at last. A vast variety of sweets and cakes from all kinds were laid out onto the table. "They keep sending sweets. Be sure to take some of them, no all of them, back with you."

"Yui and Ritsu will enjoy that a lot." As Mugi was choosing which treat to take, her father pushed a golden soufflé like dish forwards.

"This Salzburger Nockerl is really good." He paused, taking one for himself. "I think you could feed the whole light music club with the amount that has been sent since you left. It's as if they don't realise you're not here."

Mugi smiled. "They probably don't."

"Have you picked up any new hobbies?" Mr Kotobuki asked. Her daughter paused, thinking about a certain game she had been playing a lot lately. She was worried that she was stepping past the line. Her trail of thought was caught off though when her father carried on after her pause. "I've been fishing a lot lately."

"Fishing?" She looked at the man across her in a three-piece suit with matching tie, short spikey hair cut and clean-shaven face. She couldn't imagine it.

"Seriously. How about we go fishing tomorrow?"

"Eh?!" Obviously, she was surprised and it took her a few moments to respond. "Um… Sure. Oh, it's very sweet." The dessert was light and fluffy, yet somehow filling.

"How is the piano playing? Have you had any performances with the group lately?"

"Nothing special. Ever since Kana graduated, our old president, there have been less events." Much of their time had been taken up by the Illusia game though. Mugi knew couldn't hide it forever and decided to tell her father. "We started playing a game together though."

"Really? Which game?"

She hesitated. "MMO Illusia." She almost closed her eyes, expecting a scolding. However-

"Oh, we're in partnership with them."

"Eh?"

"Didn't you know? Well, I say partnership. It's technically a sponsorship." He finished his dessert. Taking a handkerchief from his top pocket, he wiped away some cream from his mouth. "With Kotobuki research, most notably Yamada-san and Yamamoto-san, into the central nervous system of the human body and how we can use machines interpret these messages and recreate them, MMO Illusia is the most realistic MMO that has ever existed."

Mugi listened carefully. "Sugoi."

"I didn't know you each had VR systems at university."

"Oh no, we only play computer versions."

"I can buy some for-"

"No dad."

"Can I try to change your mind?"

"I don't want to… to bribe my friends." She turned her head away. "It's embarrassing."

He sighed and waved his hand, calling for the desserts to be taken away. "Well, you've seen the VR world haven't you? And you may be wondering why we, the Kotobukis, have decided to partner up with another company when we can easily hold our own in the market." Their eyes met. "Apparently not. Well, try the VRMMO game and you'll understand."

* * *

><p>That afternoon, Sumire was required to go on a training camp with Mr Kotobuki leaving the butler and Mugi with the house free. However, Saito was left with nothing to do after setting up Mugi's computer with the AmuSphere.<p>

"Link Start!" This time, Mugi wasn't afraid. Even though she was on her own, the white world she appeared in was almost soothing now that she knew it was safe.

Swiping her arm down, she quickly scrolled through the list of games. After sorting the list into categories, she scrolled up and down the page, skim reading the options.

"Adult?" she questioned, surprised at such a category. She looked over her shoulder, as though someone could be watching. Curiously, she clicked on it.

"Password, damn." _Why is there an adult section?_ She pondered the question out loud and remembered what Sumire had said.

* * *

><p><em>"What other games did you test out?"<em>

_"All of them." _

* * *

><p>Mugi's nose started bleeding, if that was possible in the VR world. She quickly shut such thoughts out, making a mental note to ask Sumire later.<p>

Afterwards, he finally clicked on the MMO section. Sword Art Online, ALfeim Online, and MMO Illusia were there. However, her father had told her the former had closed, and the second game had recently been completed.

Finally, she clicked on the game.

"MMO Illusia, start."

* * *

><p>*Author's notes

A really big chapter means a well deserved really big Author's notes, right?

Probably not, but I like ranting, and you like reading; probably not reading these author's notes. You probably think I like the sound of my own voice or something…

Realistically, Mugi would have to set up the AmuSphere when she first used it (for obvious reasons I can't be bothered explaining at the time of writing this.) I do have an excuse to why I skipped it, however the main reason is laziness. And it would have been boring for you guys. So when Mio, Ritsu, Yui, and Azusa set up… That'll be annoying.

I used the character profile images from the k-on wiki (in the respective character's gallery section)

So Mugi lives in a 'Single-family home, a rather stately mansion.' Here's a link!

wiki/Tsumugi_Kotobuki%27s_Gallery?file=Tsumugi_Kotobuki_Character_Profile_

Turns out, hyperlinks don't work here…

The episode Mugi mentions the many sweets piling up is in season 1 episode 2, during the counting part time job. But the question is; "Why does the Kotobuki family receive so many sweets?" I'll make a better plot of this in K-ON Continued but the question is still there.

About Mugi's dad- I thought about having him visually react when Mugi mentions MMO Illusia. However, he never lost his composure instead, reacting normally. Yes, he does have amethyst (purple) coloured eyes. This came from the manga iconography wiki page about hair colours. So yeah, hair, eyes, what's the difference? If you read that page, what does that mean I have in store for the Head of the House?

I know precisely what the kind of parents I want Mugi's to be like and I imagine it is not what you had in mind. Well, only time will tell. (However, since this is MMO Illusia, these questions won't be properly answered here- Continued will answer them better when I get round to it.)

I thought I'd settle Mugi's week-end in one chapter. However, the introductory to the VR and not VRMMO took longer than expected. I blame block breaker tennis.

Not sure if I explained it right. Basically, the Kotobuki family have created games for the VR system, not VRMMO games. These games are mostly simulation games (like cooking mama) or crossovers between some others (like block breaker and tennis- I think that would be awesome btw.) Sumire's involvement was being an alpha and beta-tester.

*/

* * *

><p>No after chapter story this time- this chapter is already 5211 words out of 6004…<p> 


	13. 12: VRMMO Illusia

Previously on K-On! MMO Illusia,

Kotobuki Tsumugi logged into the game via the Amusphere into the Virtual Reality world. What awaits her in this fantasy world? Who will she meet? What monsters will she face?

* * *

><p>*Author's Notes

Sorry for being over dramatic…

For those who have realised, please ignore the massive safety and privacy issues of the choice to choose your avatar to match your own face, and add to the fact the helper can communicate to you visually via Skype or something. That was me being a massive idiot. Thanks.

Then again, SAO…

I've started to read the SAO light novels (up to and including number 14 –don't you dare spoil 15 for me) so I should correct all the VR things, such as last chapter Mr Kotobuki said there was no market in the VR games section; that is a big fat lie. Please remedy that and change it to 'making it more awesome and realistic.' Or something like that…

I also said the SAO incident was four years ago. This will likely change in future chapters to, say, ten years (old Kirito!).

Mental note: when planning a large story, which is always for me, do some planning!

The Author would also like to apologise for the 6-month difference between this chapter and the last chapter. The excuses I have in store are, as stated, excuses. Also, I doubt anyone will remember this fan fiction or care enough to realise the 6-month difference. Anyway, enjoy :D

Happy thoughts…

*/

* * *

><p>The community was overwhelming. The heavy streets were packed with merchants, players and NPCs alike and I wondered whether everyday was like this. Whilst today was a Saturday afternoon, I didn't expect being carried by the crowd through every street in the city. It took me a while to find a quiet spot away from the flow of the people but the air still buzzed with noise. The variety of colours, the exited shouts of adventurers, I stood in the middle of Capital City Lota by the teleport gate. From when I was playing on my computer at home, I remembered clicking on the screen with my mouse and sending my avatar walking down the paved roads, pushing past the people whilst looking down on the vastness of the world in the safety of my seat.<p>

Now in the shoes of my avatar, I looked up. The buildings rose high into the sky. The Tower blocked the last bit of blue above me, and in the distance only a single strand of thread connected it to the world below. In the centre of the capital city was a single spiral staircase called the Spiral. Small dots climbed the staircase, presumably adventurers walking to the first dungeon.

"Is this what my avatar sees everyday in this world?" I whispered to my self.

I was amazed and afraid at the same time.

"Where should we go next?" I heard someone say.

"I'd like to see Django's manufacturing floor," was the reply.

"There's a quest I want to try out!"

A party of adventurers walked past me to the teleport gate and disappeared through it. For a moment I felt like following them but I had no reason. Now that I was here, what should I do? Whilst Mio was designated leader of our party, Ritsu would take initiative and march us though the game non-stop to the next quest.

Ah, a quest. That was what I should do to pass the time.

I found a nearby café and took a seat and a waitress approached me, presumably an NPC. After asking me what I would like, a menu appeared in front of me with a list of names and prices. It took me a while but after pressing a cheap green tea and a tick button, she bowed and returned later with the drink.

In comparison to the tea I was served at home, or even in the Cooking Mama game, the drink was fairly bland. Or maybe it was because the tea was cheap. Still I was surprised that they had food and drink items in the VRMMO, though there was a cooking sub-skill available and some high-class food stuffs gave amazing buffs. I knew Yui had bought some expensive cakes for Giitar that granted double AGI and STR stats, though the reason why Yui bought said cakes was slightly different.

Anyway, I got back to my original task of trying to find the right quest. Except I have no idea how to access my quest list. In fact, I was currently dressed in my full equipment. Heavy armour, shield on my back and Vopal sword strapped to my belt. I felt needlessly overdressed compared to the surrounding people in their casual clothes in the cafe. I even wore a helmet on my head. Who drank tea dressed ready to go to battle? I placed my helmet on the table and felt the fresh air on my face.

I looked at the people in the café again and wondered where they put their equipment. None of them carried any bags of clothes, or carried any weapons so obviously they didn't strip off, though that would have been a sight to see. It was strange to see so many people wearing the wide variety of clothes from standard, every-day wear to cat costumes and medieval wear. It was like all the cosplayers in the country had been mashed together in some explosive fashion disaster.

"We have enough potions for now," someone said in a rather monotone voice, and I saw a pair of girls stand up from their table. One had flaming red hair, the other straight brown. With a wave of her hand, she summoned a menu and pressed a few buttons. A white light appeared over her clothes and steel plate armour formed.

Her partner smiled and nodded, repeating the same action. However, she did not change her equipment and seemed to be reading off the menu. "Yeah. I think we should be able to beat it," she replied politely. Light brown hair fell past her shoulders and over her casual clothing of a simple shirt and jeans. "I need to pick up something first though, you go on ahead first."

As the brown haired girl walked away, the red head looked at me suddenly and I realised I had been staring quite a while now. Before I could look away, she started to approach me.

"A-ah! Sorry for staring," I started to say but-.

"Tsumugi-san?"

"…Eh?" How does this person know me? I looked at her face but being in a game I didn't recognise the polygon mesh that formed her avatar. Yet she seemed strangely familiar. Her hair curled down into two reverse drills on either side of her head of the colour flaming red. Her eyes shone a deep, chestnut brown but her mouth showed no trace of a smile on her anime-styled face. That monotone stare and flat voice stood out brought me back several years back to my school days.

But the person who I thought this was standing here seemed contradictory. The person I remembered didn't play games. Then again, I didn't particularly know her, as she always seemed distant to the class.

"Ichigo?"

She smiled.

* * *

><p>We caught up the many years. Ichigo was a gamer, apparently, and there weren't many other gamers in our school so that explained why she seemed secluded from the class. I learned that Ichigo was at a university in Tokyo studying physics and she started playing MMO Illusia as part of a society. She met Himeko again there at the University, to her surprise, and both ended up gaming together. Today, they planned to take on a floor boss on their own, without the support of the university society.<p>

At that moment, Himeko came back, still in her casual clothes. I now recognised the sweet yet ecstatic smile on her face and she was as tall as ever, even it this is a game. Her hair was long and wavy and, like her real world self, it had a light brown colour. However, a bang of her hair crossed her face and was tinted silver seemingly dyed; it gleamed in the afternoon sunlight. She studied sports science at the same university, wanting to go professional with softball. She took this game as a hobby with Ichigo and immediately fell in love with it.

"Swinging a sword and swinging a bat is basically the same thing," she said wholeheartedly with her hands on her hips. I tried not to think about the major differences between the two activities, such as softball is a sport and this is a game, a bat is to hit a ball and a sword is designed to kill. Then again, I didn't play softball very often and tended to be picked last for teams. Maybe Himeko's intentions whilst playing softball made her so good. There was this one time when she was batting and the softball hit Ritsu in the face, knocked out three teeth and caused enough blood that Mio had to go to the nurse's office. It didn't help Ritsu pretended to be a zombie and chased her around the school, ignoring the teacher with a whistle.

They were excited to learn that Afterschool Tea Time were still playing music and together. For the most part anyway, I thought, when considering how much time we had been sinking into this game. They wanted to see the others but I said they weren't with me at the moment.

We properly introduced ourselves with our in-game names, and though they raised an eyebrow to my name ("What's wrong with Prince Triton?") I raised an eyebrow at theirs.

"Strawberry-chan?" I asked. It sounded like something Yui would name a strawberry if she didn't eat it. Which was impossible. "And Child Princess?"

"Our English isn't very good," Himeko/Child Princess replied meekly. In my head, that wasn't an excuse, especially since kanji was allowed in this game. "We just translated our names into English and that's what we got."

They added me to their friends list, I was always happy to have more friends, and sent me a party request. I pressed the tick button and gladly accepted without any thought.

At the top left of my vision, several bars appeared, presumably my party members. My vision was similar to what I saw on a computer screens. My own health and mana at the very top left with party members slightly smaller listed below it. I noted that they were both level twenty-eight, compared to my level twenty-four. The bottom would show my personal status buffs and de-buffs next to the time and date in the bottom right around a mini map of the area. Right now it showed the streets of the city and two green dots, my party members, appeared next to my blue dot.

The only difference is the lack of skills displayed - there were none.

Himeko brought up a menu and started equipping her armour. Like before, armour materialised in front of my eyes. She had a light, leather set of armour from her shoulders down. A metal plate covered her left breast that was held in place with many belts and straps. Her trousers were of a dark, dingy colour giving her an overall brown and rugged appearance. She looked rogue.

A long sword hung by her waist and a metallic shield strapped to her back, she had the appearance of a proper, rugged adventurer. Beside her, Ichigo set up the last of her equipment with a great sword and shield on her back. Her armour showed it was taken care of well as it gleamed in the sunlight, the many plates moving over and across whenever she moved. Yet it was only medium weighted armour and her slim body could easily be seen as the metal hugged her figure.

In comparison, I wore heavy armour. I felt a little jealous of her; even though my heavy armour would protect me better I could imagine the freedom of wearing something lighter.

"How did you do that?" I asked, referring to my friends pulling out a menu. They looked at me curiously, not understanding. "I'm new to this game so I don't know how to make a menu appear."

There was a small beat of silence.

"Eh?" said Himeko.

"You don't know how to pull out a menu," Ichigo stated. I rubbed the back of my head embarrassed. I couldn't tell what Ichigo was thinking as her facial expression did not change.

"Oh! I see. Well," said Himeko and stepped behind me before leaning close. I felt something press against my back. She lifted up my right hand. "Pinch your index finger and thumb together and move it downwards to call up a menu."

I did so and my menu appeared. Several panels displayed information at me. The top left showed a figure of myself, displaying my equipment. My stats were just below it with the many parameters the game had. I still had to learn all the terminology, but I saved that for later. On the right was a list of submenus; items, skills, party, guild, and options. Tapping on one of the selections brought up an appropriate list. Himeko leaned on my shoulder, pointing at the different things and I tapped away, exploring my new menu. The options allowed me to customise a lot of things such as the layout of the menu or what displayed in my vision.

"Thank you very much," I said, wondering how to take off my armour and I glanced at the top left where my figure was. There were several buttons. I clicked the 'unequip armour' button and my armour turned white before dematerialising into the air. After, I found myself in casual clothing.

"It's very plain," I thought when I found myself in a white shirt and skirt. The button had changed to 'unequip clothes' and I pressed it out of curiosity.

I immediately regretted my decision when, in a second, I wore only my underwear.

"Kya!" I screamed, and gathered quite a lot of looks. Himeko quickly grabbed my hand and pressed a button on the screen. Clothes reappeared to cover my naked body and I hugged myself tight, glad of my friend's quick reactions.

"Th-thank you," I said, meekly. I wanted to move away from the café I had just stripped in. I decided never to imagine everyone stripping at once ever again, though I knew I was lying.

Himeko burst out laughing. "Well, now you've learned your lesson."

"You really are new to this," said Ichigo. "Is this your first time in a VRMMO?"

I nodded, still embarrassed.

"You should probably get used to fighting then. I think floor eight will be good to get used to battle."

I didn't want to be a bother to these two. My level was three below theirs and they were planning to take on the floor boss. Before I could refuse, Himeko smiled at me and grabbed my hand. "Let's go!"

* * *

><p>Floor eight had nothing special in particular. There were many optional quests but little side stories weren't of any interest. Being such a low level floor, the monsters barely reached level twenty but that thought was brushed away when I walked onto the field. The monsters here were demi-human. They walked on two hind legs and wandered the flat, grassy plain just outside the village. They mostly stayed away from the path but our party headed straight at them. At a closer look, they had a weasel-like head and pointy noise. Most were slim and stood as tall as a normal person; they were coated with orange fur from head to tail. The closest one to me held a shield and sword and snarled at the air. Its menacing look focused on me for a split second, and a shiver went down my spine, before it turned and walked away. I focused on its back and a name appeared above its head: Wild Kobold.<p>

"Right, let's start here," said Himeko, drawing her sword and shield. "Strawberry-chan, let's warm up first!" It took me a second to remember Ichigo's in-game name, but they both took off.

Himeko was faster. But ten metres away from the kobold, she raised her sword high above her head. The blade glowed white.

"Sword Beam!" she shouted and swung her sword to release the energy. A white, crescent arc shot forward, skimming the ground towards the target and hit the creature in the back. A health bar appeared beneath its name as it took fifty per cent damage. I was amazed at the damage, until I saw it was on level sixteen and remembered the level difference.

As Himeko was recovering from her attack, Ichigo dealt the final hits with her sword. With three consecutive hits, the kobold had no time to block or evade and it shattered into a hundred shards of light.

"Maybe they're too weak," said Himeko. She beckoned me over and I followed, excited for my first battle. "Hey, Triton, try handling one on your own."

It took me a while to remember my in-game name before I managed to say something. "Um…" I looked at the next closest kobold, seemingly unconcerned of the adventurers annihilating one of its comrades.

Ichigo gave me a small push towards it. Her expressionless face nodded back at my worries. "Don't worry. As long as you hide behind your shield, you'll be fine."

"O-okay."

I stepped towards it. I knew I would feel bad for attacking it first so I took my time to approach it. Except it was a non-hostile enemy and completely ignored me.

"You can do it, Prince Triton! Fight-o!" Himeko cheered me on and I readied my sword and shield. Both pieces of equipment felt heavy in my delicate hands but I held steady. My round shield felt inadequately small though - I wanted it to grow, large enough to completely hide behind. My sword, on the other hand, was the same as the sword I bought a while back even before I had fought the First Floor Boss. It was a Sword made by a brand called Vopal in this game. It was long and a frighteningly curved edge that looked deadly sharp. I had never felt such a dangerous object in my life, except maybe the Damascus kitchen knives that my sister and the butler used, or the real katanas in the kendo sports hall, or the secret armoury my dad kept hidden in various secret passageways in the mansion. Apart from all of those, this weapon…

Thinking about it now, I felt rather silly. Either way, this was the first time I was wielding the dangerous object intending to hurt. Well, when I was learning how to cook-.

"Prince…"

"H-hai!" I returned to the task at hand, shaking away the image of chopping up a potato.

I stood in front of the kobold and it stopped and turned its head towards me as though I was about to start a conversation.

"Um… I'm very sorry." I raised my sword in the air. "H-ha!" I tried to shout as I swung my sword downwards. After the swing, I looked back up only to see the kobold still standing there.

Himeko looked at her partner. "She closed her eyes, didn't she?"

Ichigo nodded.

"Use Shield Bash on it!" Himeko cried.

I stepped forwards and bumped my shield against the creature's shield.

Nothing happened.

"…"

"I'm sorry I don't know how to use skills yet."

"Alright then," said Ichigo and walked forwards. Without any remorse or mercy, she struck the kobold in the back. In an instant, it became aggressive and started to attack Ichigo. With thirty per cent of its health gone, it started to slash at my armoured companion. But, against my expectations, she did not raise her shield.

"Ichigo!" I shouted as the kobold's sword cut into her shoulder. A dull, metallic ring sounded as metal hit metal and Ichigo's health dropped. The blade scraped down her armour, rattling all the way down. But Ichigo did not respond, her sword arm slack by her side and shield on her back. "W-what are you doing?"

Nothing was the answer, as the kobold slashed again to the same shoulder. Her gaze never wavered from mine as she took each hit, her health dropping dot by dot. I did nothing, as Ichigo denied my expectations of fighting back.

"It doesn't hurt you know," she replied eventually. Ten per cent of her health had gone, and the kobold stepped back. Its sword glowed white before dashing forwards, initiating a skill of some kind. Its sword slashed down twice in quick succession, her health dropping considerably this time.

"Pick up your sword, Prince Triton."

I tensed up and gripped my sword tightly. Is this what my avatar normally feels like in battle? This tense atmosphere, the adrenaline building up, and the fear for my friends, is this Prince Triton's life? I raised my sword but hesitated at the kobold's open back.

I shook my head. _But… this is just a game._

"You can do it, Mugi-sama," said a voice in my head that did not belong to me.

I swung down, chipping at the kobold's health. For a moment, it paid no attention and in my confusion of the voice in my head that started to speak again, I swung again. The second hit took its health past halfway into the yellow area; it turned on me.

"Ah!" I screamed, raising my shield as it swung its sword. I felt the weight of my opponent's weapon collide with my shield. I leaned back with the blow.

"Stop closing your eyes!" shouted Himeko.

"S-sorry." I opened my eyes and stared at my opponent. My shield hid most of the creature's body from my view but its eyes burned with anger. Again it swung but its blade glanced off my shield.

There was a slight opening. And I took it.

For a brief moment, I was not myself. My arm moved on its own, swinging my sword overhead and it struck the kobold, splitting the creature into two. Then it shattered into a hundred shards of light. It was over too quickly but my heart hammered against my chest.

"You did it," said Ichigo. I tried to smile at her but I was still too tense. It took Himeko slapping me on the back to break me out of my trance.

"You'll get used to it. We probably should have picked some more aggressive enemies."

Ichigo said, "Sorry, that's probably to do with my Low Priority Aura."

It was then that I realised I had no idea what classes my friends were. I had assumed Ichigo was a Guard like I was, considering her metal armour, but I had not heard of that skill before. Likewise, Himeko looked like a Thief but wielded a sword and shield. Yui/Giitar, who was a Thief/Ninja, used twin daggers.

Ichigo seemed to guess what I was thinking from the look on my face.

"I'm a Paladin, a second tier Guard class. Low Priority Aura reduces aggro in all enemies in the area. At my level, the kobolds that would normally attack on sight won't. I'm also a low level Cleric which is required to be a Paladin."

"I'm a Swordswoman!" Himeko shouted. "Second tier Fighter class that focuses on swords of course. It's pretty versatile for a close range class like that Sword Beam you saw earlier."

I bowed my head in kind, thinking about my own class. "I'm just a Guard at the moment. I didn't know which class to choose afterwards so I haven't changed yet."

They both nodded in acknowledgement.

"You can unlock a new class every ten levels," said Ichigo. "However, it isn't usually necessary except for the Mage classes."

"Ah, our team is so unbalanced," said Himeko with her hands behind her head. "Two tankers and a DPS. Still, if you don't have any other classes, with twenty-four levels invested in the Guard class, you must be pretty dedicated, even more than Strwberry-chan."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, most players prefer to be hacking and slashing. It's damn scary taking a hit."

I recalled the fierce look in the kobold's eyes when it attacked. I didn't remember feeling afraid, at least not for myself. Watching the kobold's sword cutting into Ichigo, it felt like I was the one being struck down. I noticed her health had filled to max in the short space of time.

"Well, I'm the only tank in my party, Afterschool Tea Time," I replied. I recalled a guidebook I had read detailing how to form a balanced party in an MMO and considering my friends, only Azusa would possibly take the tank role.

Ichigo said, "We should teach you how to use skills next."

"Shall we move onto the next one?" asked Himeko.

* * *

><p>Skills were interesting to use. In my menu, the skill subsection, a list of the skills I owned had details on how to use them. Almost all of them were customisable though. For example, Shield Bash required a low stance by default and pulling back the shield to activate the skill but a simple name call would activate it as well. I noticed the parameters of the skill cold also be changed, such as sacrificing power of the skill for speed to pull it off. I wondered whether these skills were customisable on the computer. Sadly, most of my skills were passive but I played with a few buttons.<p>

Himeko introduced me to other skills as well that weren't listed. She showed me a move called Vertical Arc on a kobold, killing it with two smooth hits in a V pattern. There were more complicated ones that included more consecutive hits but they required practice since they left a large opening after performing the skill.

For about an hour, we practiced our moves and formation against the kobolds, this time taking on large groups of up to four or five at once. At first, Ichigo took the front whilst Himeko and I stayed back. Her shield and sword were used only for blocking and parrying, taking no damage. Her High Priority Aura grabbed their attention and stopped them from attacking the defensively weaker Himeko, not that it mattered at our level. After half a minute of building up aggro, Himeko and I would be free to attack without fear of any retaliation.

Himeko was interested in my sword, though to me it was fairly old. The level was fairly low compared to mine but Himeko immediately recognised it as a Vopal sword from the excessively curved shape. There was a noticeable bend in the blade, she pointed out, just like a boomerang, implying that it could be thrown like one. The sword came with two extra skills, Flying Sickle and Return. The former skill would throw the weapon, and the latter skill would teleport the weapon back into the users hand. Himeko urged me to try it but throwing a sword went against every instinct a sword should be.

"Swords are close range weapons," said Ichigo.

"Yeah, but imagine it! Whizzing through the air and slicing the opponents to pieces before they can even get to you!"

"And the ones you miss attack you when you have no sword."

I held back a smile as the two argued like Boke and Tsukomme, similar to Mio and Ritsu. Eventually, I didn't have to throw my sword, to which I was fairly relieved. Throwing away your weapon was just stupid.

And then Ichigo and I swapped roles, Ichigo taking the rear and I became the Tanker. Unlike the Paladin, my form of taunting came from the skill Roar. And I was quite embarrassed.

"R-roar…" I half whimpered, half whispered.

"You have such a cute roar," said Himeko, chuckling to her self. Ichigo silently agreed with a nod, the kobolds ignoring us as I tried to squeal out a proper roar.

"You can activate the skill by pressing the button too you know," Himeko suggested, watching my struggles. Of course, that would be too slow in dire situations. On the computer, using the Roar skill was pressing the 1 key on the keyboard. The Roar skill could not be cast with a simple voice command since the skill required use of the voice in the first place.

"Hey, you should pretend to be an actor, like during that play our class did," said Himeko.

"Mugi was the director then," Ichigo replied.

"Oh yeah." They paused for a few moments and looked around. There were a few other parties training in the fields but were far away.

Ichigo said, "Like this." She stepped forwards and inhaled deeply.

"ROAR!" And the air shook. Ichigo blurred slightly in my vision. The effect was instant and kobolds surrounded her quickly, intimidated by the girl. I had never heard her so loud before, though whether it was Ichigo or the in-game system, I did not know.

"Wow," I said.

"You try it," said Ichigo, ignoring the onslaught of five kobolds attacking her.

Ichigo was putting pressure to act on me again. Her health was dropping and something in the back of my mind beckoned me to help.

"Roar!" I shouted, but nothing happened. One of the kobolds glanced at me before initiating a skill at Ichigo.

"Stop closing your eyes!" Himeko shouted at me. I had heard that too often already.

"It's embarrassing though," I replied. I was losing self-confidence now.

"Just think what Ichigo did and copy her."

"O-okay…"

"…"

"…Roar?"

"…"

"S-sorry for being difficult."

Himeko burst out laughing, to my misery. "No-no, I'm finding this hilarious. Just ignore everyone and let it all go. Like this." She turned towards the kobolds and started roaring at them like a child pretending to be a dinosaur. Since she didn't have the required skill, nothing happened and the kobolds didn't even look. Ichigo stared at her for a few moments, still ignoring five angry kobolds.

The scene started to feel surreal and I laughed.

"You see? Just go for it, no regrets!"

I sighed before pulling myself together. There wasn't anything holding me back, really. No other people were watching and these two were my friends. Even the monotone Ichigo could perform it perfectly whilst I shut myself away. _This is just a game._

I inhaled deeply.

"ROAR," I shouted eventually. The skill took effect, the game system finally recognising my efforts to pull off the skill. As though forcing all the air out of my lungs and tearing at my vocal chords, the sound was amplified several times over. I knew I had closed my eyes again but it had worked. Unfortunately, when I opened my eyes again, something scarier that trying to roar appeared before my eyes.

Five angry kobolds with gleaming weapons.

For a brief moment, I hoped they would turn back on Ichigo and start ganging up on her again. That thought passed when they all charged at me; Ichigo calmly walked off.

I braced myself, hiding behind my shield. However, a second shield joined next to mine and I saw Himeko supporting me.

"Good job. Now, let's finish this!" She drew her sword, motioning for me to draw mine.

I smiled back, feeling a part of the team as I drew my sword. I could see Ichigo ready to attack the kobolds from behind.

"Charge!"

* * *

><p>After an hour of training, we had a picnic. I glanced around, cautious that a stray kobold would walk across our carefully laid out food but Ichigo reassured her Low Priority Aura would deter them. Besides, Himeko said, we'll cut them down before that happens.<p>

Ichigo had been investing in the cooking skill and brought out several cucumber sandwiches. They were very light and the cucumber gave it the perfect crisp bite.

"Yeah, we aren't catered and are living out on our own so we have to cook for ourselves. Ichigo is still learning the basics."

"Our college is catered," I replied, recalling the first time we ate there. "The food is good. Yui even asked for seconds the first time we went."

"Isn't it expensive though?"

I nodded. One of the challenges I had set for myself was independence from my family. I had heard my dad, my granddad and probably every ancestor I had had done so before becoming the head of the family. It allowed our business become diverse as we each had different interests and we connected with our clients better. Whilst dad was against this, just as his dad was against him becoming independent, I managed to find myself several part time jobs to support myself.

"I work as a waitress in one of the cafés near my university and as a band we work part time at a music store."

"Wow! We have to come visit one day, right Ichigo?"

She nodded. "I haven't seen Mugi in waitress cosplay yet."

"Well, I look forward to it," I replied, not at all suspicious of Ichigo's remark.

We continued like that for a while until Ichigo glanced at the time.

"Shall we continue on then?"

"Where to next?" I asked as we started to pack away. I hadn't fully immersed myself in this game yet but I felt used to the skills now.

She replied flatly, "Tenth floor."

* * *

><p>I had heard Mio's story about the tenth floor's boss. However, it was always difficult to tell a story about a game and keep it interesting. In particular, Mio was more interested in Koyuki-sempai's character and her 'Angel' build so I had little advantage in this dungeon.<p>

Afterschool Tea Time as a whole had also skipped the tenth floor after considering Mio had already completed it. By facing higher-level enemies, we would gain levels faster and gain more skill points. I thought back on my skill tree and wondered how many levels it would take to Master the Guard class, though simple maths said fifty-four levels. There currently was no gain except for bragging rights, and on forums players preferred to explore the many possibilities of combining classes, but my dad mentioned off-handed a plan to introduce a very special reward -a unique skill.

But, after stepping through the teleport gate, now I stood on the tenth floor between Himeko and Ichigo. At first I thought something was wrong with my vision, as the world seemed dimmed and slightly brown. But when my two friends exclaimed something about the tone difference, I realised this was the sepia colour Mio had described during her story.

It felt like I had been placed into the twentieth century, during the British Industrial Revolution. It was something we had learned in history and we saw huge chimneys pumping steam into the atmosphere, the smell of burning fuel filled the air and weird, mechanical contraptions rolled down the streets.

"It's like Steam Punk," said Ichigo as she started to walk ahead of us. I couldn't see her face but it seemed like she was in a trance.

Himeko said, "We heard that there is a unique class that can be gained here but no one has found it yet. It's called the Steam Punk class but no one's ever seen it for real. The website has pictures of it and it looks really cool. It even has wings."

We had no shopping to do on the floor –I recalled the instruments Mio bought for us- except for some simple map information of the floor dungeon. At the edge of town, we stood in a line and took in a deep breath. I knew that the monsters now are going to be tough, a lot tougher than the kobolds. But with Ichigo the Paladin taking the front guard, and Himeko the Swordswoman protecting our backs, I knew we were going to be just fine.

* * *

><p>*Author's Notes

I hope you didn't mind the first person switch. Which do you prefer; third or first person?

This chapter starts to introduce the importance of team building. The main difference between this game, MMO Illusia, SAO, and ALfheim online, are the vastly different skill sets and play styles rather than swords-only or pure-skill/numbers that will hopefully become obvious throughout the course of this story. Also, this story will start to merge with the SAO universe in a way that really should have been planned before hand.

Prince Triton (the avatar that is, not Mugi) doesn't get much action here, especially since she is fairly passive in nature. However, I think she'll play a bigger role next chapter, to Mugi's surprise. It is pretty hard to have two things going on at once though…

I really want to rush this and get everyone to a higher level  
>(with ALL the Skills), but I always forget how in depth I go into when writing these chapters. Mugi's weekend goes into three chapters! Unless her Sunday...<p>

*/

* * *

><p>Prince Triton had a fairly confusing afternoon.<p>

Everything was normal at first. As usual, when Mugi turned on her computer, she woke up and began her morning routine -checking for viruses and sifting through news updates on MMO Illusia's main website. She noticed a tournament announcement but the level requirement was far too high and she wondered whether their group would be able to enter in time. Considering Tainaka's enthusiasm, it would be quite likely. Though, it seemed strange that there were a wide variety of separate tournaments from singles to raid battles against each other. She considered heading to Elizabeth's bar but found none of her friends were online.

It was then that she noticed she was logging in at a different IP address and recalled Mugi was taking the weekend away from the group. However, Mugi was beginning to log in and the Prince settled down, waiting to be sent into the world of MMO Illusia.

It was quite a shock what happened next.

On appearing, she found herself on the capital city where she last logged out. The crowds were bustling as usual, and when someone walked towards her she stepped to the side.

Except she did not, they collided.

"S-sorry," her body suddenly said, finding an unexpected voice in her throat. The Prince's head turned side to side, her legs started to move; yet she never felt so disconnected from her body. It was as though she had become a ghost merely watching through this girl's eyes. She heard glimpses of someone else's confused thought processes.

_What's going on? _For a while, her body wandered about the city, carried by the flow of the crowds until she found a secluded spot away from everyone.

"U-um…" she said again, Prince Triton starting to realise slowly what had happened.

_Is this…?_

"Is this what my avatar sees everyday in this world?" Mugi whispered to her self.


	14. 13: Tenth Floor Boss

/*Author's Notes

Turns out I wrote this a long time ago and never got posted it; apologies. I was also going to have a rant at the 'guest' who reviewed 'update' but I can't be bothered.

There should be a lot of « and » about, because previously I did and . Don't see anything? Exactly. I should go back and edit these, but that wold take a while.

Now, as a reminder, Ichigo is called «Strawberry-chan» and Himeko is called «Child Princess». Now, I know my naming process is terrible. But [insert-stuff-to-do-with-kanji-here] makes sense, right?

*/

* * *

><p>"«Roar»!" I shouted, directing enemy attention back towards me. Bats that were diving to Himeko's head angled their flight towards me and I ducked beneath my shield after anticipating their attack. As they neared, I pulled my arm back slightly. "«Shield Bash»!" For a brief moment, my arm acted on its own as the game system took over. Literally knocking them out of the sky, my shield collided with their bared fangs and they dropped like flies.<p>

Himeko and Ichigo started cleaning up, the Paladin stepping on one of the bats before decapitating it. The next instant, she raised her shield, blocking a ranged attack from within the darkness of the tunnels. "Spiders further ahead," she stated. A debuff appeared next to her icon showing she had been slowed.

In an instant, Himeko recklessly charged into the shadows, unleashing «Sword Beams» as she ran. Light waves illuminated the mines briefly before flashing as they struck the enemy dead on, lighting up their hideous fangs and dealing damage. They started to scatter-.

"«Shackle»," Ichigo called out and, with a flick of her hand, white chains sprung from the ground and bound the spiders to the ground. Whilst they broke free easily, the slight delay was enough for Himeko to get in close.

I followed, slightly slower because of my armour and smaller agility stat. Ichigo finished off the bats that had attacked. By the time we arrived to support Himeko, one of the three spiders were dead. Himeko danced round and the spiders followed her, leaving their backs open to us.

I raised my sword to my right shoulder like Himeko had taught me. In position, the sword glowed white and I unleashed a «Sword Skill». My body moved on its own, again taken over by the game system as I slashed down into the spider's body. At the bottom of my strike, my arm turned upwards faster than I thought possible in real life, and cut up to form a V cut, «Vertical Arc».

Whilst the overall attack did little damage, my skill set up had no other attacking options other than Shield Bash. That move cost some mana but dealt minimal damage because it caused «Stun».

Likewise, Ichigo also had no offensive skills from her classes. She charged past me shield first and rammed the spider with «Shield Bash», knocking it towards my spider. Her sword arm was outstretched though and glowed white. In an instant, she swung as she initiated a sword skill I didn't recognise, cutting both spiders at once.

Finally, Himeko finished them off with «Cross Slash», a skill from the Swordsman class. Similar to a sword skill, her blade was glowing. However, it moved faster than the eye could see and in an instant a white cross lay across both spiders, destroying them both. Unlike sword skills, abilities learnt from classes defied the impossible, though replicating that V-cut would take years of practise, and possibly breaking my arms.

"Whoop!" Himeko cried out, grabbing both Ichigo and I close.

Our health bars were fairly high and the enemies were of little concern for now. Of course, that was different when we first entered the dungeon. The bats were extremely hard to hit and the Spiders kept their distance. It took a while of wild swinging before coming up with a proper plan. After learning that the bats tended to cluster together when attacking, a Shield Bash could stun all of them at once and ground them. Whilst I felt harsh stabbing them in their helpless state, Ichigo did so without remorse and continued on.

The spiders were also extremely weak defensively and were sliced and diced by Himeko's quick slashing skills. Whilst they were hard to catch, Himeko charged like a berserker and was fast enough to dodge their spider webs.

To be honest, I felt a little useless as the two swathed through the dungeon as I tagged along, occasionally helping out. Ichigo saw the look on my face though, quickly reassuring me that I was doing fine.

There were worm-based enemies as well in this dungeon but we could deal with them fine. Shield Bash had a long cool down time but it didn't prevent us using hitting them with our shield anyway to keep our defences up. Ichigo and I constantly repeated the same routine- stun with Shield Bash then finish off with skills. Himeko would take advantage of the stun to attack other enemies as the Worm monsters were the most dangerous. Aside from high health and built to take hits, they could bury underground and attack directly beneath the player. We spared Himeko the chance of being back-attacked and kept the monster locked onto one of us. Luckily, we only faced two worms at a time but any more would have been trouble.

After six battles, our inventories were starting to fill and the dungeon neared its end. One time, we took a look down a stray corridor in hopes to find a treasure chest but all we found were more monsters.

About an hour in, we faced the final doors.

"Let's take a break shall we?" Himeko sat on the floor near the entrance of the boss room and started sorting through her menus. Ichigo pulled out her menu as well and started readying items. Several potions appeared and she placed them into her pockets for quick use later.

They had both gained a level during our trip and I had gained two quite happily. With six skill points to distribute, I glanced at Ichigo, wondering if she had any advice.

She caught my eye and waited for my question.

"Um… What do you think I should put my skills points in?"

"It's your build. Do whatever you want."

"Um…" Blunt as usual. An appropriate metaphor would compare her attitude to a mace but she didn't use one. What kind of paladin is she?

Himeko explained. "What she means is, choose what you like. I chose the Swordswoman class because fast and the skills are fun to use. Ichigo chose Paladin because they uphold justice, and is a Paladin to support her party because she doesn't have the best way with words."

"Justice?"

"Like in the fairy tales, 'paladins' or 'knights in shining armour' are the heroes that rescue the princess from the castle. That's our Ichigo."

I looked at Ichigo who had her back turned to us now. Himeko and I both stifled a laugh. I wasn't entirely sure what Himeko meant about Ichigo, and I realised I didn't truly know these two old school friends.

Though Ichigo's words now made sense, I said, "Thanks," before turning back to my skills. Right now, my skills were completely dedicated to tanking for my party. I could unlock a new class; two in fact, but my options were limited to the starting classes and the «Phalanx» class. Phalanx was a possible option as it was also a tank class.

However, I didn't know what skills it would unlock. In the end, I piled my skill points into the «Guard» class. My defences skyrocketed.

"Here," said Ichigo. I turned my head just in time to catch a potion item she threw at me. "It's a buff potion. It will increase your AGI stat. It should be useful against this boss."

I thanked her and drank it. There was only a shot of liquid but it tasted bitter and the aftertaste lingered.

"Right, everyone ready?" Himeko asked after I had finished checking my potions. My armour had no pockets so in order for me to use a potion I had to take one directly out of my inventory. We each nodded in turn, standing up to face the boss.

We lined up in front of the doors, Himeko in the middle, Ichigo on the right and me on the left. The swordswoman stepped forward and opened the door.

* * *

><p>In this game, «Floor Bosses» are notoriously difficult battles the first time they are challenged. Usually, they can be challenged with full on raid parties consisting of seven parties of eight players, a grand total of fifty-six people fighting a common enemy. There are several types of bosses that vary in size from the size of a man up to thrice as tall. During the raid battles, smaller enemies would appear to aid the boss and tended to appear flanking or even behind the players to sow discord to unwary challengers.<p>

However, the drop rates are high and winning grants high-ranking materials, rare equips and one unique item for the «Last Attack» making the challenges worth it. Upon clearing the floor, a staircase would be revealed and the next floor would be unlocked to all players.

For those of a lower level that missed out fighting epic floor bosses, repeat challenges are available. However, the battle is considerably easier even though the maximum number of players is limited to a single party. At the same time, no smaller enemies would aid the boss during the fight so being flanked and back attacked is less likely to happen. The boss itself would be unchanged keeping its fixed attack patterns, health, etc. The drop rates would change though, being drastically reduced to a near minimum. Monetary rewards and experience are similar, but only mid-ranking materials and uncommon equip items drop. Rare items are possible but are only slightly more likely than standard monsters; so farming boss monsters is time consuming and not worth it. The chance of its unique item dropping has been confirmed but once only.

I had heard the repeat battles are easy considering the possible level difference between the players and the boss monster. However, I found it would not be like that for our case.

* * *

><p>We stepped through the doors. It was dark and I could not see the other side of the hall. As the doors closed behind us to stop other players interrupting the battle, torches that hung high above from the ceiling lit up. A sombre red light bathed the arena that we would fight in. Stone pillars stood tall but barely reached the ceiling, carrying nothing but a brazier of fire. My eyes gradually adjusted to the dusty air and we waited for the floor boss to appear.<p>

Polygons formed in the air, rearranging themselves into some shape. It looked like a mole- black fur, large spade claws and a star-shaped nose. It had no eyes and it sniffed the air. From what I could see, its head was larger than twice my height but its body was probably hidden beneath the earth. I instinctively hid behind my shield.

«Level 28 Mole Runner». Two health bars appeared above its head and a health bar appeared above each of its claws. I was unsure whether the battle had started but then it buried underground. The hole where it ducked sealed instantly, leaving me confused at what to do.

"Let's go!" shouted Himeko, running forwards, pushing her AGI stat to the limit. Ichigo nodded, following close behind.

"Y-yes!" I called, taking the rear. I could feel it – adrenaline started to rush through my body. Right now, I am «Prince Triton», not Kotobuki Tsumugi. For a brief moment, that second voice in my head agreed.

Cracks appeared beneath Himeko. She was too far away. For a split second, she paused. Then-,

"«Spring»!" she shouted. Her body leapt into the air just as the Mole Runner burst out of the ground nose first.

"«Dash»!" she called just before she touched the ground. As though her feet were explosive, there wasn't even a second of contact between her shoes and the floor when she darted towards the boss. An impossible feat in real life. Her sword was out, activating a skill –fire swirled around her blade. "«Double Strike»!" Going straight into a lunge, her sword pierced into the Mole's back. Two numbers flashed up, one for the fire, the second from the sword, and its health dropped. In the corner of my eye, her mana dropped to 70%. The number that appeared for the fire damage appeared orange and in bold, indicating fire elemental super effective damage.

Ichigo caught up now, shield first. The Mole's claws were out now, ready to retaliate against the Swordswoman but Ichigo Roared, diverting its attention. She raised her shield.

Crash! In two swipes, 25% of Ichigo's health was gone even though the claws raked across her shield. If that had been a direct hit-.

I was within range. Pushing aside my thoughts, I charged in shield first as Ichigo had done, activating the Shield Bash skill. But it resisted the stun effect.

"Block it!" Himeko called at me, and I raised my shield. The same attack as before, I felt two blows against my shield. I took 10% damage.

"Wow, your defences are huge!" Himeko used another Double Strike before retreating as the Mole buried underground again. Whilst it was hidden, we couldn't see its health but I remembered we had dealt almost nothing. Himeko ordered us to spread out as its emerge attack was an AoE attack.

"I didn't know it was weak to fire attacks. I thought Earth type monsters were weak to wind?"

Himeko grinned. "They are, but this monsters covered in fur and stays inside a lot, or so I read somewhere."

Ichigo was its next target and she coolly sidestepped out of the way, even striking it across its nose whilst darting away. She was nimble on her feet. With her lighter armour, balanced sword and shield stance, her figure moved gracefully. I noticed one of the buffs by my name change when she went on the offensive, her «Aura» changing accordingly.

She was suddenly like a dancer, her sword arm cutting through the Mole in smooth strokes, her shield arm keeping her balance when she twirled into her next move. Since the Mole's attacks dealt large amounts of damage, she decided to evade rather than block. Her light footing on the dusty earth, she moved back to safety whenever the Mole lashed out and would come dancing back in when it was open.

"How can I learn to move like that?" I thought out loud. I was still unused to the VR world. Every movement felt awkward and cumbersome. Compared to my body in the real world, this one felt lighter and stronger, even though I wore heavy armour. Even as I closed in to attack the Mole from behind, I must have looked like an elephant compared to the other two fighters.

We continued like that for a while. Himeko stopped using her skills so aggressively to conserve mana, Ichigo seemed to tire when we realised we were dealing almost minimal damage. I was level twenty-six, my friends on twenty-nine. We fought this boss monster with five less than the maximum of eight party members with levels barely matching the boss's. Its first health bar was almost depleted and in the red zone but its attack pattern would change for the worse once finished and we would be pressured into finishing it off quickly.

The longer the fight took, the more tired we would get, the more mistakes we would make.

Finally, on Himeko's final Double Strike, the first health bar shattered. It buried underground whilst screeching, the hole filling up behind it.

"Everyone, stay back and be on guard!" Himeko ordered.

Its aggro had been reset, allowing it to attack at random. I thought I was safe since Ichigo and Himeko were taking most of its attention away from me so I was surprised it attacked.

This time, it targeted me. Cracks appeared behind me. I thought I heard something, but when Ichigo cried, "Behind!" I spun around on instinct and raised my shield, just in time as a one hundred kilo Mole Runner dived out of the ground at me.

Something changed in me, I didn't know at the time but several of my defensive skills activated all at once as I took the hit. Instead of being blown across the room, I held my ground. The Mole pushed me back, my feet digging trenches in the ground and my health took 10% damage.

"Great one Prince Triton!" Himeko called out as she ran past me, ready to attack the stunned Mole Runner. Ichigo gave me a quick nod when she joined the fray.

I looked over my shield and noticed the «Stun» debuff over the monster. There would only be a few seconds but it was something I could take advantage of. I raised my sword, only to find my arm sluggish and ridiculously heavy. It was then I noticed a new buff next to my name.

"«Solidity»," I said to myself. It was a toggle skill, that is it can be switched on or off at will, that increased the users weight multiple times over and also increasing defences at the cost of AGI. Whilst it was great for being a wall, turning around was almost impossible. But when did I activate it?

At that moment, the Mole recovered and my friends retreated behind me. I wanted to step back, I was close enough to make out the details in the boss' fur, but we didn't know what would happen next.

It buried underground. I relaxed slightly, until I realised I couldn't move. My Solidity skill was still on and I didn't know how to turn it off.

And then the buff disappeared, as though reading my mind. The feeling of lightness spread through my body. I wondered what other skill I had hidden away in me, long forgotten skills I had placed points in, swept away in the heat of battle.

"It's probably after you again," said Ichigo matter-of-factly, because I had stunned it, but I couldn't assume I could do the same thing again.

"There it is!" I spun on Himeko's voice, raising my shield but the Mole appeared on the edge of the map. With both claws, it picked up a large scoop of earth before throwing it in my direction. Half of the boulder was obscured by one of the stone pillars but I knew it would land a direct hit on me if I did nothing. There was enough time to move out of the way, but I could probably take the hit on my shield. Confused, I almost did neither. Thankfully, my shield was already raised and I blocked. No damage.

Himeko charged in smiling as usual. Her Dash skill placed her next to the boss in an instant and she placed the momentum of the skill into her «Double Strike».

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned to Ichigo. "Good work on with the timing of «Solidity»," she said. I expected her to accompany Himeko but she was too far away anyway. It was likely that the boss would bury underground before we could help out. Then, all three of us could be cornered against the wall.

"Ah, I think that was an accident," I replied meekly. She glanced at me, asking me to explain. "Well…" We were interrupted with a yell.

"Himeko!" Ichigo shouted. With one look, I saw Himeko knocked to the ground; her mouth vaguely open in surprise and her health was dropping quickly. From green, past half way into yellow, finally into red- it stopped, just under the 10% line. However, the biggest problem was that she was stunned from whatever impact had just happened.

"Heal!" A ball of light shot from Ichigo's hand towards her friend. Even before the spell connected, she started casting the next spell in full.

But I could see she wasn't going to make it. The first heal only restored 20% of her health back into the yellow area, but the Mole Runner was going to body slam the Swordswoman on the ground. Right now it was buried beneath the earth but I knew at some point it would appear diving onto Himeko.

I started running.

Himeko could only wait on the floor; the stun's count down was ticking away. Five seconds left. In my head, I listed through what skills I had, checking to find something useful in this situation. No, nothing I had was ranged. Four seconds left. I was sorely tempted to throw my sword-.

"Ah."

In the same moment, the Mole burst out of the ground. Almost leaping like a dolphin, most of its body reached out of the ground, ready to drop onto the helpless player. Three seconds left. I pulled my sword arm back, recalling the skill name in my head only but I felt it activating already. My body felt rigid, some unseen force controlling me as the skill initiated. I only needed to buy enough time for Himeko to get away. Two seconds left.

The Mole started to descend as I unleashed the skill, swinging the blade with a wish._ Please make it in time!_

"«Flying Sickle»!"

One.

The blade flew out overhand, definitely not the way a boomerang should have been thrown. However, my body knew the sword would fly faster this way and it shot past my shoulder in a blue with a faint glow from the skill. It spun towards its target, cutting through the air with a faint whirr sound. As the Mole started to drop downwards, Himeko twitched, ready to accept her fate, when the sword struck the torso of the boss.

Of course, the impact alone wasn't enough to halt it completely. However, the momentum of the heavy sword was enough to give it a mild pause before crashing to the ground. Enough time for Himeko to recover.

Zero seconds.

"Himeko!" I cried, snapping her out of her trance. Her quick reactions sparked, like the split second after hitting the ball in her sport before sprinting to the next base, and she scrambled on all fours to get away from the falling beast.

She was less than a metre away when it landed.

With a boom, cracks rippled from the ground, I could even feel the shaking earth from the impact. Himeko was blown head over heels; dust kicked into the air and shrouded the boss monster. The extra health from Ichigo's most recent heal vanished instantly, but not all of it. Finally, Ichigo finished her spell, bathing Himeko in refreshing light and we could finally relax for a moment. Himeko's health was over half now, into the green zone. It would require more healing to bring her to full but green meant safe, for now.

"Thank!" Himeko shouted with a huge grin on her face. "You saved my ass."

"H-huh?" I stared at her behind. It had a nice curve to it. I thought about saying 'That wasn't particularly why I tried to save you though'. But still, it was a nice bottom.

There was a noise in the room again and we turned towards it. The Mole Runner had buried underground again.

"What happened?" Ichigo asked. It would be vital information to know learn one of its attack patterns.

"Ah, it flipped the ground I was standing on. I jumped back but it used its other claw to attack. It got me in mid-air, which wasn't fun."

Taking sudden, large amounts damage whilst in mid-air had a higher chance of causing stun, so I heard. However, whether it was for that reason, or an innate skill of the Mole's attack, we did not know. However, we still had to treat it with caution.

"How much damage did you do?" I asked Himeko as we got back into position a few metres apart.

"Like, nothing."

I saw a few moments later. Again, the Mole tried to attack from me from behind. But this time, I was prepared. With my shield raised, I activated my skills.

"«Solidity»!" Gravity gripped my ankles as the Mole collided once again against my shield. I leaned back with the force and the boss slowed to a halt. Peeking over my shield, I saw its remaining health.

"90%?" I shouted. I was on 80%, but I already felt drained. _How much of this can we take?_ Definitely not this routine ten times, especially considering how close Himeko's life was to being taken. I needed to go on the offensive.

I switched off Solidity and, ignoring the tingling feeling in my shield arm from the damage, raised my sword arm.

Only to find I had no sword.

During our brief respite I had forgotten I had flung it away. I couldn't counterattack, even if I wanted. Himeko and Ichigo darted in to attack, giving me a quick glance.

"Well done," said Ichigo, almost sarcastically if her voice wasn't always flat.

Whilst the Mole was stunned, I could probably start running to retrieve my sword but…

_«Return»_, said a voice in my head. Again, it wasn't mine. My arm still raised, the Vopal sword reappeared in in hand. Some of my mana disappeared but rather than question it I said thanks.

"Hah!" I slashed down, initiating a sword skill. At the bottom of the slash, my arm twisted at an impossible speed and flicked upwards for a second cut, «Vertical».

"Get back," said Himeko as the stun counter faded. Quick on the retreat, we managed to dodge the Mole's sudden claw swipes.

The fight continued on like this for a long time. I didn't bother glancing at the clock in the corner of my vision; every moment that could be spared was on getting my breath back. I imagine my body in real life sweating on the bed as I fought this imaginary beast. With every sword swing, with every blow against my shield, my stamina was being stretched to its limit. No doubt Himeko and Ichigo were feeling the strains of this long battle.

Thankfully, I didn't need to throw my sword again at any point; we were steadily learning its moves. At some point I remembered how «Vopal» weapons worked – they were swords and spears that were designed for throwing and came with a skill «Return» to teleport the weapon back to the user. Occasionally used in conjunction with guns, they could 'teleport' ammo effectively creating bottomless magazines. Or so I heard.

On the fifth time the boss reappeared from the ground to try and body slam me I noticed its health flashed yellow.

"Half way there!" Himeko shouted in glee, even though we had already taken out one of its health bars a while ago. However, as I blocked the Mole's attack, I noticed something different.

"Himeko! Get back!" This time, it wasn't stunned.

Ichigo, who was approaching, managed to stop and raise her shield; but Himeko was diving across the air. Her sword was glowing with a different sword skill; she couldn't stop even if she wanted to.

The Mole reared up, presenting its underbelly as though to crush me with all of its weight. I took several steps back, waiting to re-activate my defensive skill before it attacked.

It crashed to the ground claws first, just as Himeko was about to land her attack. One moment she was trying to sink her sword into the boss, the next we were all blown away.

Or, up into the air.

Upon crashing to the ground, the earth split into a hundred cracks. Black and white shot into the air with hot air currents and small boulders. My whole vision shook before being lifted into the air as the broken ground lifted and sank rapidly like an earthquake.

This magical attack quickly sent my health below half and dangerously close to red. It only lasted for three seconds but I was completely winded. Somehow, I landed on my feet but my bones rattled from the impact.

Ichigo was in the same position as I was, miraculously on her feet against the attack, although she stood further back whereas I stood next to the monster.

What surprised me most was Himeko though. Even after taking a direct hit in mid-air, her health was about the same level as mine, though red. She had been knocked across to the wall yet was still alive.

"How?" I asked.

"«Shared Souls Aura»," Ichigo said. I glanced at her. I had heard that skill before. Something to do with sharing health…

"Ah." Just before the impact, Ichigo had changed her Aura to the Shared Souls Aura, meaning the damage would be shared between us three.

"It's currently at a low level, hence Child Princess took a lot of damage anyway, and both of us took a lot of damage." I didn't understand the game mechanics of the skill but I just nodded.

The Mole Runner seemed to be out of action for a while though having just performed such a powerful skill. However, we were both afraid of surprises, especially since this was the lowest health we had been on today, especially for me…

Himeko, however, was feeling rather brave.

"«Sword Beam»!" she roared. I didn't even notice when she was back on her feet but her sword flicked out several times as she ran forwards sending crescent waves of energy into the Mole. She dashed back in range to unleash her close range skills.

Ichigo sighed before casting her healing spell again.

"But…" '_It's hopeless,'_ I was going to say. It took us far too long to whittle its health down to fifty. With that new move, who knew how often it would cast it? And its attack pattern would become more and more aggressive the closer it went to zero health, possibly adding another new game-breaking move once in the red zone.

It was also learning. Even though I had managed to defend myself consistently, I noticed it started to approach from different angles and not just from behind, pressuring me to turn in the right direction to defend. If I turned the wrong way, I would have been flattened.

Exhausted, beaten and bruised, I looked around, looking for anything that would help.

The Mole's claws had health bars. However, each claw was as tough as my shield and both were over 75% health. I didn't even want to look at the durability of my shield but repairs would have to be made soon.

What else was there? The torches above on the ceiling hung far too high and out of reach. Himeko's Spring skill wouldn't reach it. The stone pillars that held braziers or fire stood tall and sturdy, except there were cracks at the base of some of them. _Wait, cracks? _Quickly, I focused my sights on them and sure enough a health bar appeared next to one of them.

"The Earthquake must have damaged them," I thought out loud.

"Watch out!" I didn't realise this was aimed at me. It was too late when I looked up when a boulder hit me in the shoulder sending me spiralling to the ground. My sword arm numbed and my health fell into the red zone. Ichigo turned her healing spells to me.

"Bah! Why is it so annoying?" shouted Himeko, taking out a health potion. She downed it in one. "Come ooon!" Her game face was on, something I had seen when she played baseball.

"Hey, the pillars have health bars," I said. Both my partners took a look to check. "Do you think we can knock them down onto the Mole?"

"You think?" Himeko replied, getting ready for the Mole to burst out the ground again. "Let's go for that one, it's almost finished anyway."

The pillar we chose had been hit by a boulder before and, on closer look, cracks spiralled all the way to the top.

"We'll wait next to the pillar for it to pop up then we strike!"

"You're instructions are vague," Ichigo replied. Before Himeko could retort back, the Mole appeared close to us.

Ichigo raised a hand. "«Shackle»." White chains chased after the creature and wrapped around its massive body in an attempt to pull it to the ground. But the skill level was low and they broke within seconds. At the same time, Himeko called me over behind the pillar.

"Let's break this thing down!"

"Yes!" Like swinging an axe, both our swords hacked at stone, reducing the health of the pillar to almost nothing.

"Now!" Together, we rammed it towards the Mole. For a moment, nothing happened, but then-.

_Creak…_

"It's going," I said, hoping that our aiming the pillar would hit the Mole.

"Ichigo! Get out of there!"

The Paladin had been distracting the Mole, keeping it in place whilst we readied our attack. Our aim was true and she managed to pull out safely before the pillar fell.

Himeko cheered and jumped with both fists in the air. "We did it!"

At the same moment, the brazier of fire that was on the pillar fell onto the Mole. Its fur caught fire quickly and it began trying to put itself out with both its claws.

"It's open!"

With a quick rush, our blades cut the creature from all sides whilst it was distracted. Admittedly, our damage was pitiful compared to the damage from the fire but it was working well. At the right moment, Himeko ordered the retreat just before it buried underground again.

It was annoying, yes, but we could see the end now.

* * *

><p>It took two more pillars after that to finish it off. I almost didn't realise it was the end until it exploded into millions of shards of light; that last pillar crashed down on its head and pinned it to the floor and we attacked until the slither of health that remained vanished. And just like that it exploded into a million shards of polygons reflecting the sombre, red light from the few fires left in the room. The end was abrupt, almost unsatisfactory as I sank to my knees.<p>

Himeko fell to the floor first. "We did it! WOOOOOOOO!" She flicked her hair back as she let it out. "Strawberry-chan, Prince Triton, we did it!"

Ichigo silently nodded but had a rare smile on her face. Her helmet was tucked under her arm when she sat down. A small screen appeared in front of all of us displaying our rewards. As usual, ridiculous amounts of money and materials were rewarded but nothing special appeared.

"Hey, you get anything good?" Himeko called out. I shook my head and she sighed. "Man, for once I want a unique item…"

"What's a unique item?" I had read about them on several forums, though most people said they were a class of item to do with rarity that only dropped from boss or special monsters.

"Yeah, it's something like that except for one thing. It level scales with you."

"Eh?"

"Like, if I equipped a 'unique item' then it would be level twenty nine. But if you equipped it then it would turn to level twenty… six."

"Wouldn't that mean you'd never have to buy new equipment?" It would save a lot of money in the long run. It probably depended on the stats of the equipment, though I guess it would be reliable to have one.

"I heard that they're also unique because they have super cool abilities. Like I heard of this sword that can turn invisible!"

That sounded interesting, and dangerous. I looked over at Ichigo, wondering why she had been so quiet for so long. Himeko seemed to notice as well since the Paladin had been staring at her screen for a long time.

"Don't tell me…" As quick as a rabbit, she used her «Spring» skill to jump behind Ichigo to get a look her self. I took a peek as well, standing behind the both of them.

"I'm kidding."

Himeko fell to the floor. "Don't do that!"

* * *

><p>Ichigo did receive rare class equip item though.<p>

It was a «Maiden's Jewelled Gauntlet», a 'magic glove' type equip item that usually takes up only one hand, depending which glove you get. They normally didn't appear in pairs, annoyingly, but that was because they were designed for shield users. It increased the magic power of spells used via that hand, ignoring some of the magic reduction caused by armour or weapons. It would have been great for normal mage users to increase their defence, if only they weren't so heavy.

After that, we reached the next town to sort our equipment and items. They offered me the glove. Of course I refused.

"We have to repay you somehow though," said Himeko. "We couldn't have done it without you!"

Ichigo nodded. "If you ever need anything send us a message."

"Thank you for having me," I replied. "I've learnt a lot."

"Next time you or any of the other's are online, make sure we're there too!"

After that, we parted ways and I felt a little sad. For the past few hours, I had been placed into a different world and transformed into a new person, like I was reborn from the normal, rich girl called Kotobuki Tsumugi and became the tank character, Prince Triton. It was a taste of another world, another universe, of what could have been. Even though this was a game, I still felt alive.

About six in the evening, I logged out.

I think I'm going to miss being «Prince Triton».

Silently, that voice in my head agreed. "I'll miss you too."

* * *

><p>*Author's Notes

Long chapter, lots of fighting and action, but is it paced well enough? As usual, I feel I put in too much detail and dragged it out too much. Bosses are difficult and are usually memorable but it's hard to capture the feelings of facing such an epic foe, or those tense moments when so close to death. Imagine that feeling when overcoming that massive hurdle with friends on one health point left, or with a second to spare.

I don't think I've captured that.

Anyhow, I'm starting to include more details about game mechanics too, though in my head I'm comparing this to a normal k-on fan fiction and thinking how dissimilar this one is. Cute and fluffy? Nah, MMO Illusia!

So, if you think you can help me improve the fight scenes, please review or message me. Thanks for reading!

*/


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